Saturday, April 15, 2006
Prodi's Foreign Policy Statement- What he
Says, and What he Infers
Prodi
calls for a Foreign Policy with more Substance/Focus and less Style.
Prodi correctfully points out that Italy must be a meaningful part of the
European Union FIRST, and that the EU, along with the US, can be John Kennedy's
"Two Twin Pillars" to meet the World Wide challenges of poverty
and disease, human rights, instability, and totalitarianism.
Prodi
also refers to Italy's importance to the EU, because
of it's Strategic position and Historical
connection in the Mediterranean region, located on an arc of instability that
goes from North
Africa to
the Middle
East and Central Asia by way of the
Balkans.
What Prodi says "between the lines", is that the EU
MUST take Italy seriously, and treat it as an EQUAL, or Italy will
continue to be "susceptible" to or "listen more
closely" to US entreaties, that for instance manifested itself in
Berlusconi's support (largely symbolic)
of the
US invasion of Iraq.
In other
words, Italy will "play off" the EU
and the US, to garner appropriate respect and recognition. ..........Smart
Move!!!!
Thanks to Professor
Ben
Lawton
ITALY MUST GO FORWARD AGAIN
After
experiencing a government brimming with media activity, but stripped of any
political plan, Italy must move forward again. Her role
and contribution in terms of foreign policy must be re-launched with firmness
and realism if she desires to maintain her rank and to avoid finding herself isolated vis-а-vis
participants in world affairs, as happened, for example, with the Berlin Summit
consultations on Iran between the United States, Russia, China, and the three EU countries that
initiated negotiations with Teheran. My foreign policy program, the objective
of which is to restore Italy's active
participation in global affairs, is based on three principles: a strong and
united Europe, a solid alliance with the United States and an opening to the proble! ms of the globe, notably
those crises that constitute a threat for all of us, with a concerted
multilateral approach.
At
the intersection of European and Atlantic security, Italy finds itself in a position that
explains the remarkable potential for political and diplomatic influence that
we have traditionally used. Nonetheless, we would be deceiving ourselves
thinking that we can box above our weight class: Italy is a middle weight European power
in the Mediterranean region, located on an arc of instability that goes from North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia by way of the Balkans. The
political tradition of the last fifty years as well as the challenges launched
at our security and our prosperity consequently demand a foreign policy based
on international cooperation.
In
this sense, the essential principle of the foreign policy I propose to Italians
will be to establish a relationship between Europe's political
integration process and the solid relationship of trust that we maintain with
our American allies. As an important European power, Italy's weight and its
role reside above all in its ability to participate in the elaboration of
European policies; on the other hand, as a solid ally in the community of
Atlantic nations, Italy can contribute to formulating the Alliance's decisions.
It
goes without saying that if Italy were to marginalize itself vis-а-vis Europe, she would become a much less effective Atlantic
partner, just as an isolation vis-а-vis America would make her a franc-tireur or passive spectator. Far from evolving on different
levels, a united Europe and the Atlantic Alliance complete
one another. I plan to devote all my energy and all my government's
initiatives to eliminating the tensions that have arisen between Europeans and
our American allies, tensions that have only weakened the effectiveness of a
community of shared values and common interests.
A
stronger Europe is necessary for a balanced transatlantic
partnership. It would strengthen the Alliance's political
dimension and adapt its role to today's
challenges: thus decisions arrived at together would be implemented
collectively.
No
country can manage the asymmetrical challenges of our era alone: John Kennedy's
"two pillars" must stand together, given that a stronger and more
united Europe is the "indispensable
ally," especially in an era when the new dangers to global security are
intrinsically transnational and necessitate coordinated solutions. I am firmly
convinced that peace and stability on a global scale demand a strong
European-American strategic partnership, and not only ad hoc coalitions.
That's
why I think our foreign policy must be based on multilateralism. Only
collaboration between Europe, the Transatlantic Alliance, and
also the United Nations and Bretton Woods financial
institutions will allow us to meet the challenges of poverty and disease, human
rights, instability, and totalitarianism. Multilateralism is, above all, a
method and a prйcis of shared and applied
rules, an international social contract.
Today's
world, just like our local societies, is characterized by extraordinary
diversity. The resolution of the world's
great problems occurs through a meeting of partners and by negotiations over
common rules and practices, taking into account the needs and aspirations of
all participants in good faith. To not re-launch multilateralism, to not adapt
to the challenges of our times would have us run the risk of seeing emerge a
new multi-polar balance of power twenty years from now, with nations that won't
want to play according to rules they didn't
contribute to creating. That is the essence of politics: the art of finding
solutions to common problems together.
Italy will not cease in its efforts. On
the contrary, we will continue to participate, as in the past, in multilateral
peace-keeping missions. We consider that the intervention in Iraq was wrong and unjustifiable: no
weapons of mass destruction have ever been found; multilateral legitimacy has
never been solicited; and, finally, far from countering terrorism, the war has
only contributed to exacerbating it. We will withdraw our troops from Iraq in agreement with any legitimate
government in Baghdad and we will send a civilian
contingent charged with helping in the reconstruction of Iraqi infrastructu! re and institutions.
Terrorism
cannot be fought by military means only: on the contrary, it's
at the political, social, and economic level that we must confront it, as well
as according to our own principles and values, in particular by wrong-footing
the terrorists' alienation and
marginalization. All that implies a global level strategy
against terrorism in which Europe must play its
role. Following
the elections, Italy is ready to take its place.
--------
Romano Prodi is the leader of the Center-Left coalition and future
president of the Italian Assembly.
--------
Translated
from the original English into French by Manuel Benguigui
and back again (with apologies for all discrepancies from the original text) by
t r u t h o u t French language
correspondent Leslie Thatcher.
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