French President Macron and Italian Prime Minister Draghi seem to be increasingly converging within the EU. Will the Franco-German axis be overshadowed?
Recently, the French President and the Italian Prime Minister have shown great unity in European politics. They are trying to breathe new life into the “Treaty of Cyrenal”, which was officially concluded between France and Italy in November 2021 in Rome.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who is leading a relatively stable technocratic government in a coalition of all parties since 2021, wants to bring Italy back to the forefront of the European scene. Relations with France, which have been severely damaged in recent years mainly by the populist Five Star Movement, are set to improve and strengthen again. Some media in Italy and France already write about the duo Draghi and Macron as “Dracron”.
Rome and Paris…
It is striking how the ideas of Emanuel Macron and Mario Draghi, both bankers, are identical for Europe even after the start of the war in Ukraine. Macron proposed a “European Political Community” in May that would include EU candidate countries, including Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. Italy immediately approved this ‘second class’ category.
Italian Minister for European Affairs Vicenzo Amendola also told the European Parliament that the French proposals would lead to decisive steps forward in co-operation in the fields of energy, foreign and defense policy. Italy unreservedly supports Macron. Italy and France also agree that the EU treaties need to be amended to allow for a majority decision on foreign policy and other important issues.
The French President, the Italian Prime Minister and the German Chancellor largely agree with the policy towards Russia regarding the war in Ukraine. Mario Draghi even presented a peace plan in consultation with the United Nations, which provides for some kind of compromise between Russia and Ukraine.
Loose economic policy
The French President and the Italian Prime Minister also agree on the finances. Even before the war in Ukraine, as early as December 2021, in an article for the Financial Times, they had proposed financing national budgets through more debt at EU level. However, the Berlin government has so far rejected this strategy. Dracron ». Further EU debts, for which Germany should bear a significant share of responsibility, and a relaxed policy in the Eurozone are not possible with the current German Finance Minister.
So will the Italian-French alliance become more important than the Franco-German alliance in the EU? The French historian and expert on Italy, Marc Lazar, does not believe it. In an interview with the French newspaper Les Echos, Lazarus said that France’s relationship with Germany is always more fundamental and important than others. However, the Franco-German relationship is a bit tired and it is not surprising that Macron is also looking for new partners in Italy.
At the EU Summit in late June, Emanuel Macron and Mario Draghi want to advance their reform plans in the EU.
On the other hand, German Chancellor Olaf Solz in early April agreed with Mario Draghi on closer co-operation on armaments and defense policy, as well as on promoting innovation.
However, Draghi and Macron still have something in common. Dealing with the extreme right that raises its percentages and does not leave them much time for the implementation of their plans.
DW – Bernd Riegert / Maria Rigoutsou
