Italian bombs for French bombast

Published on 27 April 2011 at 10:52

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"Italian bombs on Libya in exchange for French help with the migrants”: that’s how La Stampa columnist Lucia Annunziata sums up the significance of the agreement signed yesterday in Rome between Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Apparently a reasonable deal, but, Lucia Annunziata notes, “one in which Italy is shouldering the heaviest burden," as it commits the country to take part in NATO airstrikes on Libya. For its part, Paris restricted itself to "vague commitments" on reforming the Schengen agreements. One point of contention remains in economic relations: faced with the offensive from French companies seeking to take over the jewels of Italian industry, Berlusconi has put aside the economic patriotism of Italy and is backing the emergence of major Franco-Italian groups. In return, Sarkozy has assured Berlusconi of his support for the candidacy of the governor of the Bank of Italy Mario Draghi for the head of the European Central Bank.

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