The European framework that has emerged, with its new institutions (above all the Von der Leyen Commission), creates a series of new opportunities for Italo-French undertakings. Certainly, there are challenges to be confronted and some underlying unresolved problems from which to depart, nevertheless in a spirit of pragmatism. First of all, in light of the Parliamentary numbers and of national demands, the traditional European families, from now on, are going to have to strike more complex balances with creativity and concrete commitment. Secondly, the architecture of the European Union was designed for internal functions \u2013 internal market and, in part, the Eurozone \u2013 thus inevitably it is hard put to transform itself into a full-blown geopolitical actor to tackle external, regional and even global issues.<\/p>\n
Some of these have already been identified as institutional priorities, critical as much for Italy as for France. The first of these is the financial framework up to 2027; then there is the outlining of a public\/private investment package for achieving the great transformation summarized in the Green New deal; a third point is the completion of the banking union; competition policies are closely entwined with the international projection of European interests in addition to protection of the single market and consumers; and finally, the flow of migrants must be decidedly reduced, not least for reasons of internal social cohesion and alleviating tensions between Member States.<\/p>\n
It was against this background that the recent Franco-German initiative on the future of Europe involving a possible reform of the treaties took place.<\/p>\n
The multi-year financial framework up to 2027 will not bring about any revolutions, but rather concerns a relatively small amount 1.1% of Member State GNI. The most important, and potentially innovative, aspect are the instruments for stimulating investment: a \u201cdefense fund\u201d and a migrant management fund are foreseen, and Horizon and Digital Europe are to be reinforced. Some concrete opportunities are opening in these sectors, as also in the ecological transition \u2013 especially on the level of energy \u2013 keeping in mind aspects regarding industry and infrastructure: the challenge is to render these investments effective in order to make a technological leap that benefits the overall competitiveness of the European system.<\/p>\n
Italy and France are working on all the sectors in question, with a view to nurturing European \u201cchampions\u201d, not least to prevent external actors from taking over European corporations thanks to massive injections of State Aid and other non-transparent competitive practices. Indeed, the debate under way is located within the context of global competition and adapting the current internal rules to the new equilibria of international powers. With regard to the European Green Deal, the Greens\u2019 abstention in the vote on the Commission should not stop progress on European policies, their subsequent support on precisely this issue being probable. It will be important to establish rules that incentivize the necessary investments, partly bypassing current budget and deficit restraints; even though it is clear to everyone that the overwhelming majority of investments will have to come from the private sector if the conversion is to be efficacious and lasting.<\/p>\n
The financial sector has positive and negative aspects, and thus raises some persistent and widespread concerns. Completion of the banking union is essential to realizing the EU\u2019s economic potential, and having better tools for coping with the next phase of financial and economic crisis could turn out to be decisive.<\/p>\n
Ten years on from the great downturn, the European financial system is smaller and less globally competitive than that of the U.S.: the European banking industry is less competitive \u2013 in terms of yield and value \u2013 than that of the Americans. Return on capital is key to a financial system\u2019s attraction, while it was observed that the prevailing attitude in Europe is that the sector is the root of the problem and not, at least not sufficiently, crucial to growth and innovation.<\/p>\n
On the positive side, differentials between European public debt securities have narrowed over the past year, resulting in a less dangerous overall financial system as compared with a few months ago. Italy\u2019s lack of a capital market is mainly the result of the prevailing presence of small and medium-sized enterprises, while in that sense the situation in France is better. This is, in any case, a problem common to the entire European economy given that, on American impetus, the international rules tend to tip the scales in favor of large firms.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, growth remains scarce, which threatens to support the thesis that the market is not capable of ensuring growth and employment, leading to the temptation \u2013 considered a serious problem by many experts and operators \u2013 to resort to nationalization. It is crucial that a point of equilibrium be found between technical regulations and efforts to garner political consensus, in order to present the EU and the Eurozone as capable of offering tangible solutions to citizen problems in a climate of collaboration and cost sharing. Italy and France have strong common interests concerning Germany\u2019s reticence toward the measures (in particular, a European deposit guarantee fund) necessary to improve the credit system.<\/p>\n
The digital and telecommunications sectors are fully entwined by now, so in a \u201cworst case scenario\u201d Europe seems to be facing the choice of whether to become an American or a Chinese colony; thus the entire issue of innovation and the digital agenda becomes absolutely critical for a more dynamic future. As in various other fields, only a European critical mass will be able to sustain the deep transition that is going to be necessary in order to keep pace with global competition.<\/p>\n
The Commission\u2019s decision to block the Alstom-Siemens merger confirms all the difficulties inherent to mergers. It was noted that both the Chinese and American approaches are often viewed in a distorted way: in reality, the Chinese system is competitive in foregrounding those \u201cchampions\u201d on which to shower State support (therefore, a hybrid mechanism); the American antitrust approach that has prevailed for some years now hinges on ensuring consumers favorable prices (regardless of principled considerations of companies\u2019 size and their vertical integration). According to some participants, the challenge for Europe lies in interacting and competing precisely with the American model, something that is currently penalizing given the restrictions imposed on European operators (which, in fact, also limit the innovative potential of some key sectors). According to this line of thinking, it is necessary to embrace the principle of \u201cEuropean preference\u201d, especially in strategic sectors, in order to defend ourselves from \u201cpredatory\u201d or unfair behavior.<\/p>\n
The defense industry, well-equipped with advanced technology (including civil and dual-use) can benefit from forms of strengthened and \u201cminilateral\u201d cooperation, including the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PeSCo) that thus far has proven promising. Certainly the development of shared instruments and aggregate military and security skills calls for an earnest willingness to coordinate on foreign policy in the broadest sense; here there are some priority dossiers for Italy and France on which positions could converge more than they have in the past, resulting in mutual benefits: the stabilization of Lybia, the delicate question of Turkey\u2019s role as a NATO Member that has become almost autonomous in its actions, the future of the African continent as a nature European \u201cneighbor\u201d, and prospects for further enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans.<\/p>\n
China is, naturally, the main strategic and systemic problem of these years. A cohesive European position is essential to seizing opportunities and cultivating economic relations, without ignoring the risks posed by Beijing\u2019s dominant position in critical sectors, as well as American pressure to make a clear choice between transatlantic and Chinese relations. Rome and Paris share a pragmatic, but certainly not ingenuous, attitude toward China.<\/p>\n
As for the energy sector, we are faced, in many regards, with a market that is not truly global, but rather regional. The context has changed profoundly, with EU Commissioner Von der Leyen\u2019s definition of climate change as a true continental emergency. This is one of the fields in which Europe is truly in the global avant-garde both in terms of sociopolitical sensitivity as well as of technology. There are noteworthy divergences between European regions. With regard to both mix and technologies, the repercussions vary from country to country.<\/p>\n
On the theme of migration, a European management of repatriations and humanitarian corridors has become a topic of discussion, yet the difficulties remain considerable.<\/p>\n
In Italo-French bilateral relations, even in phases of relative difficulty, is has always been important to rely on the two countries\u2019 close and historic economic and academic\/cultural bonds. What\u2019s more, further European integration aimed at efficiency and the defense of common interests must continue to represent a fabric of shared ideas and the values on which the best continental traditions rest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European framework that has emerged, with its new institutions (above all the Von der Leyen Commission), creates a series of new opportunities for Italo-French undertakings. Certainly, there are challenges to be confronted and some underlying unresolved problems from which to depart, nevertheless in a spirit of pragmatism. First of all, in light of the Parliamentary numbers and of national demands, the traditional European families, from now on, are going to have to strike more complex balances with creativity and concrete commitment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2355,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"freetags":[],"tipologiaattivita":[2323],"tag_tecnica":[],"temi_aspen":[2714,2706],"attivita_internaz_in_essere":[2839],"attivita_internaz_concluse":[],"studi_e_ricerche":[],"primi_nel_tema":[],"tag_tecnici":[],"tag_formato":[2895],"class_list":["post-53896","attivita","type-attivita","status-publish","hentry","tipologiaattivita-international-workshop","temi_aspen-europe","temi_aspen-institutions-and-society","attivita_internaz_in_essere-aspen-forum-italy-france-en","tag_formato-international-workshop"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita\/53896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attivita"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita\/53896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112354,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita\/53896\/revisions\/112354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"freetags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/freetags?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"tipologiaattivita","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologiaattivita?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"tag_tecnica","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_tecnica?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"temi_aspen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temi_aspen?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"attivita_internaz_in_essere","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita_internaz_in_essere?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"attivita_internaz_concluse","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita_internaz_concluse?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"studi_e_ricerche","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/studi_e_ricerche?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"primi_nel_tema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primi_nel_tema?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"tag_tecnici","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_tecnici?post=53896"},{"taxonomy":"tag_formato","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_formato?post=53896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}