Italy, Mediterranean security and European defence

The Mediterranean region faces serious security challenges and threats, compounded by civil war in Libya and Syria. Can Italy, a European bridgehead to this region, play a larger role in EU and NATO security policies and action? In a debate organised by Friends of Europe in Brussels on 25 June 2019, marking the launch of the report ‘Molto Agitato – Italy and Mediterranean security’, four panellists concluded that Italy remains a strong and reliable partner for security and defence, despite recent wobbles.

“As my title suggests, the Mediterranean and Italian politics are stormy places at the moment,” said Paul Taylor, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe and author of the think-tank’s fifth study on the roles of various EU countries in security and defence. Major problems in this region include growing power rivalries and the shortfalls of NATO and EU policies. The frailty of states like Libya has also dramatically increased the number of migrants and refugees to Europe.

Due to an anti-migrant stance and anger at its European partners for not playing their part, Italy controversially stopped its naval search-and-rescue operations – which had assisted  600,000 migrants over four years – under the EU maritime Operation Sophia. So how can Italy, run now by a populist government with a ‘go-it-alone’ approach marginalising the country from the EU, be better understood and more influential in Mediterranean defence and security? Debate moderator Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, was also keen to know if the EU could better exploit Italy’s potential in those fields.

Frustration and inconsistency often characterise Italy’s behaviour in European security, admitted Antonio Missiroli, Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO. But there can be no questioning the country’s engagement – especially in international peacekeeping missions since the 1980s. This was confirmed by Alessandro Marrone, Head of Defence Programme at the Italian Institute of International Affairs (IAI), the partner of Friends of Europe in producing this report. He pointed to Italy’s constructive engagement in NATO and EU defence, such as leading or taking part in two-thirds (21 of 34) of the EU’s PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation) projects. “We see continuity more than change in this field, although Italy does a poor job internationally communicating its work,” he added.

Further Italian weaknesses were highlighted, like a lack of focus on foreign policy. But if we ignore the populist rhetoric, argued Taylor, the country is still engaged in 40 international missions. Italy’s more humanitarian approach to defence and security could also be a good model for other countries.

The EU must talk to Libyans about migration and people smuggling, because this is souring relations between the two sides, warned Mary Fitzgerald, Libya Analyst, award-winning journalist and European Young Leader. She also said the conventional view that Italy and Libya are partners is too simplistic, as the painful colonial past colours Libyans’ perspective of their neighbour – yet today “Libyans have never been less in charge of their destiny”. Worse still, the progress of EU and other international missions in Libya has stopped, since the latest outbreak of conflict there in April 2019.

Panellists mentioned friction over Libya between France and Italy, driven partly by competing oil companies and support for different Libyan factions. “This competition is a poor man’s proxy war,” noted Ambassador Stefano Stefanini, Permanent Representative of Italy to NATO (2007-2010) and non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States. He said France and Italy must work better with Libya, while Fitzgerald called on the EU to move beyond short-term solutions there and to build a robust and collective response. More broadly, debate participants called for the EU (including Italy) and NATO to cooperate better on defence and security across the Mediterranean.