{"id":13757,"date":"2022-10-13T11:04:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T11:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/?page_id=13757"},"modified":"2022-10-18T14:38:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T14:38:54","slug":"eu-common-defense-and-mediterranean-balances","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/eu-common-defense-and-mediterranean-balances\/","title":{"rendered":"EU common defense and Mediterranean balances"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\t\"\"\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Beyond the individual military missions and the formalities between departments, it is clear that the numerous flags placed in the Sahel should be used to re-tie the threads and try to recover the ground lost <\/b>in Libya also due to the errors of previous political management. The time is right.<\/p>

The change of pace in the White House between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has come in handy for those seeking to make Italy’s Atlantic role a little more solid, without however losing sight of the future of the EU common defense. We do not know if there will be no more US soldiers in the area but we do know that Africom will remain operational. And we will be able to boast privileged relationships. <\/span>A board game within a European project that sees the African question<\/b><\/span> as a single whole. But which at the same time leaves us free to look to the US as direct interlocutors. And not just in the Sahel. But also in Iraq and also in Lebanon. In Mosul, on the outskirts of the Mediterranean, it will be up to us to take over from the Americans in the management of the NATO mission which will have the task of ensuring that the Islamic State is not reformed.<\/span><\/p>

Where the responsibility for the mission has passed to our military. A task that was relaunched, albeit indirectly, by the recent visit of Pope Bergoglio who, where the statues of the Madonna had been beheaded, returned to plant the Cross. A very important signal for Catholicism and Christianity, and which is now possible because the land in recent years<\/b> has been cleared of soldiers’ amphibians. After all, we hope that history will repeat itself perhaps in reverse. And over time, the Christian presence in the area can be recovered, which the killing of Tariq Aziz, the old minister of Saddam Hussein, contributed to annihilate.<\/p>

But we hope the wind in the sails for military diplomacy does not stop there. Italy has long been in command of the UN mission in Lebanon. Hearing of the withdrawal of an Indonesian ship and of Beijing’s request to send its own frigate off the coast of Lebanon, “Minister Guerini stepped forward”, “to put forward the candidacy of an Italian ship. <\/span>Since the responsibility of the mission is tricolor, <\/b><\/span>it is difficult to imagine being said no, “reported a newspaper article. The signal to the US was clear. Far be it from us to think that in the future the Navy could extend to Taiwan, but in the meantime it means ensuring that the Chinese eye does not intrude where the waters of the Mediterranean are already turbulent. On the one hand Turkey and on the other the interests of Egypt and the French thrust. Chinese ships have already passed through those parts and also in Morocco in 2013. In Djibouti, where there is our logistic base, the Chinese also anchored to better observe the Horn of Africa. But that’s not the same thing.<\/span><\/p>

In the slice of sea between Egypt, Cyprus and Israel pass submarine pipes, sensitive information in addition to gas. This is a fundamental point if you want to draw the dots and make sure that the dots connect the dots from Iraq to the border with Algeria and recover all the ground lost after the ouster of Muhammar Gaddafi in Tripoli. It remains a piece to be filled in. His name is Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and lately he has frequented the Elys\u00e9e a lot. Which, unlike us, keeps military affairs and civil rights issues well separated. <\/b>Entrusting the fate of the country even more to military diplomacy can be the right lever for growth. The right model to be a strong NATO partner and at the same time constructive and active players within the EU defense landscape, all still to be evaluated and built.<\/p>

First of all, between internal divisions and crossed vetoes, its approval took a month, thus highlighting a worrying lack of timeliness. Secondly, there are significant nodes in the content of the package itself. The Russian oil import ban will come into effect no earlier than six months, while some countries have obtained exceptions and waivers. All factors that obviously weaken the effectiveness of this measure. <\/b>Among other things, not only India and China are stepping up the purchase of Russian oil, but it should be remembered that, overall, the European Union depends on Moscow crude oil for 27%: a considerable figure, but much lower than the 40% relating to the gas sector. That gas that could soon become the subject of debate for possible new European sanctions on Russia.<\/div>
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>
All these knots arise from two main causes. The first is clear and concerns the age-old governance problem of the European Union. The second, on the other hand, has to do with a dramatic lack of strategy that has led Brussels, in recent years, to neglect the important issue of energy autonomy.\u00a0Unfortunately, the European ruling class preferred to pursue an ideological and politicized environmentalism, also suffering the political weight of the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who – during her long term – <\/span>made Germany increasingly dependent on Russian gas<\/b><\/span>, despite the alarm bells launched to the international community by the then president of the United States, Donald Trump, already in 2018. In this respect, it should be remembered that she was one of the main supporters of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline: a work, strongly desired also from Moscow, which has instead constantly alarmed Poland and Ukraine.<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Finally, it should also not be overlooked that a certain ideological environmentalism has repeatedly wished to focus attention almost exclusively on investments related to renewable energy: which, attention, is not wrong in itself, but it is an operation that – as in the case of gas – it cannot ignore geopolitical considerations. Some of the technologies needed for renewable energy sources<\/b> are in fact linked to rare earths: elements that are currently largely under the control of the People’s Republic of China. These are aspects that must be clear. The theme of energy cannot be read only through the lens of the environment or the economy, but also – if not above all – through those of geopolitics and national security: a necessity, this, also underlined by Copasir in one of its reports. of January 2022.<\/p>

Indeed, it is only in this way that the risk of vulnerability towards hostile powers can be reduced and that a more autonomous foreign policy can consequently be pursued. It is true that the European Commission recently presented RePower EU: an energy plan that would aim to make the EU independent from Russian gas. However, this is a belated move, without considering that such independence<\/b> would not be possible for five years. This further demonstrates how, on the energy sovereignty front, the last two European Commissions have proved inadequate and fundamentally unable to address this dossier through a geopolitical approach. It is therefore necessary to act promptly on multiple levels.<\/p>

First of all, a stabilization of Libya would be desirable. The North African country is once again on the brink of civil war and its instability makes it extremely difficult to increase the supply of gas: an increase which, if it happens, could significantly reduce our dependence on Russia. Secondly, it would be appropriate to increase the extraction of gas from Italian<\/b> fields and perhaps open new ones, also bearing in mind that Croatia is already conducting drilling in the Adriatic Sea. Obviously, focusing on internal deposits would not solve the problem in itself, but it would still contribute to increasing our energy autonomy.<\/div>

A third front to be carefully considered is that of the EastMed gas pipeline: the project, which seemed to have stalled, has returned to the fore due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This work would connect Israel to Cyprus and, after arriving in Greece, would reach Puglia through the Poseidon pipeline. It is clear that, in addition to ensuring considerable diversification in energy supply<\/b>, this project would offer a further advantage: the supply of gas would in fact take place in the context of a network of countries in which democratic systems exist. This is a factor that would significantly reduce the risk of energy pressures and blackmail for geopolitical purposes. Obviously, three related aspects must be kept in mind.<\/p>

The first is that the project will take a few years to complete: which is why it is imperative that Rome move on other fronts at the same time. Secondly, it is obvious that, if EastMed were to proceed, the issue of stability in the Mediterranean would become even more urgent. This is a factor that must be guaranteed through political, diplomatic and, if necessary, also military means. Moreover, we recall the recent seizure of two Greek oil tankers by Iran, in addition to the fact that, in the recent past, Turkey has shown an ambiguous attitude towards EastMed. Third aspect, technology. In a few years, great strides have been made and the world now seems to be leaning towards LNG. This hypothesis opens up to new projects and agreements between Israel and Egypt with the possibility of connecting only a very limited part of the eastern Mediterranean with pipes without affecting the Turkish and Greek borders and then using Egypt as a terminal. This opportunity is also very good, which in any case would not exclude the return to a further source of supply.<\/div><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>

Italy should seriously start wondering about the possibility of opening up to fourth generation nuclear power. We should also recall that, thanks to nuclear energy, France has suffered less repercussions than other countries from the recent European sanctions on Russia.\u00a0All this obviously does not mean that renewable energies should be neglected.<\/b><\/span> However, it must be borne in mind that the concept of “sustainability” should not only have an environmental value but also a geopolitical one. As mentioned, renewables are often connected to rare earths, which – according to Copasir – are “extracted almost exclusively in Africa and controlled for the most part by Chinese players”. Moreover, we recall that, according to the US Geological Survey, in 2019 China was responsible for 80% of imports of these elements worldwide. We must therefore be extremely careful to avoid that, while we rightly try to reduce European energy dependence on Russia, that of the People’s Republic of China increases: that People’s Republic which, among other things, has very close political and economic ties with Moscow. In this sense, it is necessary to prevent the creation of new energy dependencies, which risk producing pernicious impacts from a geopolitical point of view. In this respect, a safe renewable source for Italy could be hydropower: a sector that should therefore be protected and strengthened.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>
Attention: the issue of energy sovereignty is not a problem that only Italy and, more generally, the European Union are posing. The debate on the subject is in fact particularly heated also in the United States, where the Republican Party is criticizing some of the environmentalist policies of President Joe Biden, deemed excessively ideological and, ultimately, counterproductive. Policies that, according to their detractors, are helping to fuel expensive energy,<\/b> as well as making national security progressively vulnerable. On the other hand, it is no coincidence that even some sectors of the Democratic Party (especially in areas such as Pennsylvania) show a certain coldness towards some green measures of the current White House. In all this, in January 2022, a bipartisan legislative initiative was proposed to the United States Senate to try to reduce Washington’s dependence on China in the rare earth sector. The issue is therefore considered urgent beyond the divisions and barriers of a party nature.<\/div><\/div>

All this shows how the crux of energy sovereignty concerns the West as a whole: a West that must understand the risks of its dependence on the Sino-Russian axis. In this sense, it is good that Italy does not get caught unprepared. In other words, it is imperative that Rome abandon all ideological ambitions, favoring a geopolitical approach. The challenge is to differentiate the energy supply, thus increasing its autonomy.<\/b> It goes without saying that such an objective can be fully achieved only by relaunching the international role of our country: a relaunch that should mainly concern the Mediterranean area and which should take place with a view to urgently strengthening NATO’s southern flank.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\n\n\n<\/circle>\n<\/circle>\n<\/polygon>\n<\/g>\n<\/svg>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tTechnological Development and Atlantic Technological Sovereignty<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t

Gli investimenti nel mondo del cloud, del 5G e del 6G devono essere incardinati dentro a un progetto non tanto europeo quanto atlantico.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\tRead more<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/polygon><\/svg>\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\n\n<\/rect>\n<\/rect>\n<\/circle>\n<\/g>\n<\/svg>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tEnergy and energy sovereignty<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t

The Ukrainian crisis has highlighted the European Union\u2019s energy supply problems. This unfortunate system is reflected in the sixth packet of sanctions.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\tRead more<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/polygon><\/svg>\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\n\n<\/circle>\n<\/circle>\n<\/rect>\n<\/g>\n<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tReinforcing the Southern Flank of NATO<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t

Le crisi attualmente in atto stanno rendendo maggiormente auspicabile un rafforzamento del fianco meridionale della Nato.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\tRead more<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/polygon><\/svg>\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\n\n<\/rect>\n<\/rect>\n<\/circle>\n<\/g>\n<\/svg>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tDefence Industry<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t

Common defence will be an important pillar of Italy\u2019s future. Whilst being a part of the European Union, Italy can and must again have a dialogue and direct partnership with the USA.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\tRead more<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/polygon><\/svg>\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\n\n<\/polygon>\n<\/polygon>\n<\/circle>\n<\/g>\n<\/svg>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe legislative aspects, digitalization, energy and defence<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t

Paradoxically, the existing deluge of standards in Italy has not freed our country of gaps, delays and obsolescence.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\tRead more<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/polygon><\/svg>\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyond the individual military missions and the formalities between departments, it is clear that the numerous flags placed in the Sahel should be used to re-tie the threads and try to recover the ground lost in Libya also due to the errors of previous political management. The time is right. The change of pace in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13757","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13757"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13934,"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13757\/revisions\/13934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.melkart.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}