The idea is ambitious and cannot be reduced to just a ploy to reduce migration flows. It is about setting up a real foreign policy and cooperation with the countries of Africa that Italy and Europe have never had.
Reacting to Russian-Chinese neocolonialism
Over the past twenty years, the African Continent has been the focus of the attentions of China and Russia, which, using different but both neo-colonial methods, have gotten their hands on most of those states in order to appropriate their raw materials, to expand their spheres of political and military influence, and, in some cases, to pilot coups and create puppet regimes. All under the distracted eyes of the entire West.
When Meloni launched it 18 months ago, the Mattei Plan sounded like a catchphrase because it evoked a brilliant and courageous character: the founder of Eni, who between 1953 and 1962, had revolutionized the way relations with African countries, and beyond. Viewed with condescension by the left, the plan was accused of being an empty box, one of the many diversions that politics resorts to in order to make itself look good with talk.
The moment of truth
Now, however, the moment of truth has arrived. The Plan has a steering cabin headed by Meloni, there is a mission structure, there is 4.5 billion to be spent over the next few years. Most importantly, there seems to be a vision.
It is a matter of collaborating on an equal basis with these countries on 17 macro themes that foreshadow the design and implementation not of spot initiatives but of an organic collaboration that lasts over time. It will be objected that having to cover at least half of the 54 African countries would require substantial resources that we do not have. This is true. The Plan also wants to mobilize private resources to also create business opportunities for our companies.
A pilot project for Europe
But the real crux of the matter is to turn the Mattei Plan into a pilot project that will have to involve all of Europe.
This is the greatest ambition that Meloni must cultivate. Italy, for once, can become the hub of an indispensable European foreign policy for the African Continent. That is why the Mattei Plan must be filled with strategic content without scattering resources for piecemeal interventions.
One point on which as of now Meloni could involve the European Union is in the creation of European centers for migrants in African countries that have the highest rate of emigration By implementing training activities in those states, it will be possible to retrain so many workers both to keep them in their countries and to bring them to Europe without them relying on the mafias of human traffickers.
*Published on The Discussion
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