The new US administration and transatlantic relations: a renewed NATO?
The arrival of a new administration in Washington offers an opportunity to reconsider the broad spectrum of commitments and instruments that NATO uses to pursue its objectives. The Alliance has shown a great capacity for adaptation, but the many challenges of the coming years are going to call for new joint efforts.
The future of Nato
The global security context needs to be interpreted and somehow modelled in order to better evaluate NATO’s trajectory and prospects: the international system seems to be caracterized by a form of “aggressive multipolarity”, as well as by a rather disorderly power competition across the spectrum. The US-China question has inevitably taken center stage, although the evolution of this bilateral relationship is far from clear at this stage.
The challenge of European Digital Sovereignty
Digital technology is clearly a fundamental sector of the twenty-first century economy. It also demands deep behavioral adaptation by individuals and the society as a whole, a new legislative framework and conceptual tools. There is broad consensus in Europe by now about the need to ensure greater autonomy with the freedom to set effective rules in this pivotal sector, establishing what is known as “digital sovereignty”.
A recipe to relaunch Italy’s economy
Italy must not underestimate the challenge of generating economic recovery using Next Generation EU resources. Europe, after so many years of hesitancy, made a decided shift in gears when it reached out to the market to collect the funds for reconstruction. It is now up to individual countries to submit credible recovery plans. There are various glitches to be resolved when it comes to the Italian situation – first among them being to formulate a consistent vision of the country’s future.
A new Green Deal between Europe and the US
The European Union has finally taken a vanguard position on green energy and climate change, approving major steps by other nations, such as China, Japan, South Africa, South Korea and the United States. The election of Joe Biden to the White House and the appointment of John Kerry as special climate envoy strongly suggest that transatlantic cooperation on the Green Deal, among other things, will be relaunched.
Aspen Institute Italia Award 2020 for scientific research and collaboration between Italy and the United States
Orbital angular momentum microlaser[1] – A semiconductor laser of micrometric size that produces twisted light by exploiting an “exceptional quantum point”: this is the study that won the fifth edition of the Aspen Institute Italia Award for collaboration and scientific research between Italy and the United States.
Europe’s big deal
Aspen Institute Italia hosted a conversation on the results of the 17-21 July European Council between Minister Amendola and Giulio Tremonti, during which they discussed topics of major interest in the casual “off the record” style typical of the encounters organized by the Institute.
Italy, Europe and India: building a post-covid economy
The world is in the midst of an unprecedented health and economic crisis, and there seems to be a vacuum in global leadership (certainly of US leadership). No single country can offer an effective recipe for resolution. The EU, at least, has recently demonstrated the ability to come together and agree on a large economic support package, but there remains a need for coordination at an even broader level. This, in turn, may require a consensus on common standards, from fair trade to scientific cooperation to specific health issues.
The international economy between globalism and nationalism. A new image for Italy
No real global strategy or collective response against the pandemic crisis has yet emerged. Even for those who in the past have led effective coordinated responses to crises –e.g. international terrorism (2001) and the 2008-2009 financial downturn (in other words the United States) – have for the first time ever gone “missing in action”. Thus, at least at the start, it has been everyone for themselves.
The Europe-Russia Forum
The dialogue between the EU and Russia has practically come to a halt over the past few years, for various reasons. Official EU policy includes the concept of “selective engagement”, which now presents an opportunity in light of relevant common interests in the context of the growing US-China clash. All EU members and Russia favour a continuation of the multilateral system in key areas, such as international trade and technological cooperation – the latter having become a precondition for effective policies in almost any sector.
The Transatlantic future beyond Covid
Coping with the pandemic and the socio-economic effects of the lockdown is a tough test of the resilience of transatlantic relations at a substantially unstable global moment.
Financing the recovery. Europe, Germany, Italy
The main thread of the meeting could be summarized in this initial question: How can political relations between two culturally similar countries like Italy and Germany be so fragile and apparently unstable despite the solid trade relationship they enjoy? The parameters of the search for an answer were broad and deep, proof of the historic breadth of an Italo-German relationship dating back to the Renaissance and marked today by the shared values and principles of the European Union.
Europe’s response to Covid-19: the way ahead
An evaluation of European economic prospects could being with the observation that we are in the throes of an exogenous shock, symmetrical in origin yet asymmetrical in its effects (the economic conditions at the outs
The future of the European economy: the new Commission’s choices
The European Union is confronting a series of long-term structural challenges that, nevertheless, require the immediate implementation of high impact, broad-spectrum policies. An initial issue is climate change, naturally a planet-wide concern for which Europe has already set goals, such as carbon neutrality within 2050 (which will obviously have direct effects on the energy sector).
Italy, the US and Europe: facing inevitable change in a smart way
In a global framework filled with uncertainty and marked by several true systemic changes, the still structurally sound transatlantic relationship is undeniably feeling the effect of rising tensions. Both the United States and Europe are subject to strong socio-political forces that are challenging faith in institutions and even the Western model itself – even though clear alternatives have thus far been lacking, and traditional European parties managed to hold out against the anti-establishment and euro-skeptic movements in the recent parliamentary elections.
Making the most of Italy’s energy resources
Wealth creation, energy demand and CO2 emissions continued even through 2018, building on the trend of the previous year. With every day that passes, the problem of reducing emissions becomes more urgent and its complexity more evident. A complexity that began to emerge at the very beginning of annual emission measurement but that does not offer a holistic rendering of the phenomenon.
The circular economy and sustainable development
Italy is, by far, leader of Europe’s circular economy, recuperating double the European average of raw material, much more than the Germans in all sectors, but especially in hypercompetitive ones such as wood/furniture. Much needs to be improved, however, in the proper management of every phase of the waste cycle (from collection to recovery to disposal) which is an integral part of the circular economy. A single southern Italian region – Sardinia – reports recycling and reuse percentages far above the European average.
The post-election European Union: internal dynamics and global competition
One possible initial interpretation of the European parliamentary vote focused on the retreat of both main traditional parties (People’s and Socialist) and the success of two other pro-Europe parties (Liberals and Greens) that almost offset it, and on a softening in euro-skeptic parties’ positions that seems traceable to changes from within. These latter are certainly a significant force, but they do not appear capable of deeply inflecting the work of the Parliament.
Brexit and financial markets: the consequences for Italy
Brexit and all the uncertainty it is generating constitute an entirely new and potentially destabilizing element for financial markets.
London has long functioned as Europe’s main financial market despite being located outside the Eurozone. The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union now places Europe at a crossroads: either reach an agreement making it possible to maintain a good portion of operations in London or begin the long and painstaking task of creating a continental marketplace.