Italy and Spain share not just fruitful bilateral relations but also a comprehensive vision of a more cohesive Europe, above all on Mediterranean issues, with a particular emphasis on the energy sector and on migration flows. The Mediterranean perspective is crucial for the EU as a whole, precisely because the Union’s southern dimension can often be underestimated. The level of interdependence between the two shores of the Mediterranean is high and has the potential to grow further, and constructively, if a fully European scale is adopted to broaden the reach of individual countries and increase their credibility in a very diverse region that is traversed by serious conflicts and risk factors.
The transatlantic relationship remains a pillar of the European political order. In this light, Italy and Spain are aligned in seeking pragmatic ways to better adapt the intra-European framework to US stances that have changed in recent years for domestic political and social reasons that go deeper than the question of who is the current president or who holds the majority in Congress. The global picture, especially as regards full-spectrum competition with China, is driving Washington to adopt stances that can be harmful to European interests and produce cascading effects.
No Italian-Spanish dialogue can fail to include the Mediterranean as a corridor between Europe and North Africa. In this regard, greater coordination between the two countries on various fronts is vital, not least to advance their individual interests. Both attract investment, but Spain presents a more attractive scenario, while Italy has some critical structural problems that limit its appeal. Some key indicators, such as employment, a slow justice system, and energy costs, play against Italy, while productivity and the tax wedge are two of its strengths. Spain, on the other hand, attracts more investment, which creates a more dynamic labor market. Indeed, the country’s employment rate is higher than Italy’s.
More and better use of “global” companies could probably ease the way to greater cooperation between the two countries: in the technology sphere, for example, where both Italy and Spain have enabling technologies. Greater involvement of global business players in a broad range of sectors should also be considered from a development and growth perspective.
The role that, with greater coordination, Italy and Spain could play in economic terms concerns not just the common space between the EU and North Africa but could also have an impact on the global economy. It is, after all, the only region that connects the world’s most important markets: Spain also looks out to the Atlantic, while Italy naturally looks to the east.
In this context, ports and logistics, including shipbuilding, play a central role in attracting foreign investment. Ports mean more than just imports and exports of goods: they are also energy hubs for solar and wind power, and some can even produce green energy for decarbonization.
The maritime economy is in itself a strategic sector which, given their geographical position, should be a priority for Italy and Spain, which should invest in digitizing this infrastructure. This interest should extend beyond the national to the European level. Better management of Europe’s infrastructure in the Mediterranean, and of its relationship with the countries bordering it, would create significant economic and strategic potential for the continent.
In the light of this highly desirable increased cooperation between the two countries, civil society also has a role to play: better integration at the educational level, for example, and more exchanges at the university level. In addition, an improved and closer dialogue with the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and a better use of civic leadership are possible suggestions for the European Commission’s new Mediterranean-focused directorate.
Along with the abovementioned proposals for greater cooperation, migration policies and their management must also be considered. Migration concerns not just Spain and Italy, but the whole of Europe. Happily, there have been some positive developments in the implementation of relevant policies at the European Council level, such as setting up a more organized system that entails greater involvement of all the EU countries, while still maintaining a degree of flexibility.
In this and in other fields, Italy and Spain – by cooperating and pooling their mutual experiences – can play a guiding role for a safer, more secure and more just Mediterranean Europe.