The Italian Job
I entered the room prepared to grill him Paxman style. As Italian ambassador, he is supposed to convey a stable, apolitical image of his country at a time when Italy is hitting the headlines for its confrontational politics and governmental change. Addressing the Oxford University European Affairs society on the state of the EU defence policy, with all the grace of a diplomat, Signor Aragona explained that a transatlantic and a pro-European stance need not be mutually exclusive.
He noted that some countries, notably France, tend to define their European identity by contrasting Europe with that which rests beyond its borders. Yet he claimed that Italy has over the last few years been both a committed European and Atlantacist and that despite having changed leaders, still remains so. Signor Aragona revealed that Italy will now push for greater European unification and a larger role for the EU on the global stage through the development of real EU military capability.
However, he stressed the continued importance of transatlantic solidarity in efforts to safeguard European interests. This dual approach, he claims, is a fundamental basis of both Berlusconi and Prodi’s policies. Undoubtedly, Prodi’s proposed withdrawal from Iraq represents a new departure but this does not translate as a rejection of amicable Italo-American relations altogether.
Having been confronted by the apparent animosity between Tony Blair and Prodi whilst the latter was head of the European Commission, the ambassador recognised that there will always be personality clashes and differences in opinion between the nations of the European Union and the supporters of American policy. However, he pointed out that their national interests, far from being inherently contradictory, are in fact largely in unison and thus there will always be a basis for a common alliance.
Is this merely a diplomat’s dream? Abstract intellectual conjecture which ignores complexity of reality? Or mere diplomacy? Perhaps. But the Ambassador made me realise that if diplomats are guilty of smoothing over unpleasant realities, I had been culpable of a standard journalistic failing, searching solely for the conflictual. The truth of the matter probably lies somewhere in between the two.
8th Jun 2006