Cnpr forum: ‘Piano Mattei, opportunities for everyone?’
Menia (FdI): “Equal and non-predatory partnership model”. Grimaldi (AVS): “Only bilateral agreements in favor of Eni”
NAPLES – “The Mattei Plan is evocative even in its name. It’s about making a natural relationship that geography gives us lasting, which is planned and effective. In Africa there is a ‘European vacancy’ mixed for example with the French disengagement in the Sahel which has created a highway for external parties. There are infiltrations from China and the Wagner Brigade as well as a major geopolitical and social issue.” This was stated by Roberto Menia(FdI), vice-president of the Foreign Affairs and Defense commission at Palazzo Madama, during the Cnpr forum ‘Italy in the world: the Mattei plan and the prospects of international markets’, promoted by the Accountants and Accounting Experts Welfare Fund, chaired by Luigi Pagliuca.
“Equal and non-predatory PARTNERSHIP MODEL”
“Africa today is a continent of 1 billion and 200 million people destined to double in size by 2050,” explained Menia. “There is a large migratory movement. We think that the Mattei Plan can create the conditions for development that passes through collaboration with Italy and all of Europe. Italy wants to be first in this effort. It’s about building a true Copernican revolution that creates a partnership model that is equal and non-predatory. The approach to Africa – he added – has often been predatory. We believe it is possible to achieve a concrete collaboration that allows African peoples to build a future at home, with us at their side with our businesses in collaborative terms”.
“DEFREE OF RESOURCES, NO SUPPORT FROM THE EU”
Mario Turco, national vice-president of the M5s, expressed perplexity: “The Mattei Plan, approved by the government in January, from a theoretical point of view has large and ambitious objectives on paper: to encourage the development of Africa in the fields of culture, education, energy, immigration and above all in the infrastructure sector. The problem with the Mattei Plan is the absence of financial resources. At present, beyond the announcements and intentions, nothing has been produced, other than assigning tasks and appointments. There is a risk of yet another ‘partisan seat factory’. No project has been financed or started, just as there is no funding at European level. Italy needs Africa so much. Countries not at war are experiencing strong growth in terms of GDP and technological innovation. At the G7 we missed a great opportunity to promote concrete projects. Now we hope that Africa will be at the center of the agenda of the new European Commission, even if we have strong doubts. To concretely support integrated Europe-Africa development, it is necessary to modify the rules of the Stability Pact, providing margins for flexibility”.
“EFFECTIVE RESPONSE TO PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME”
According to Alessandro Cattaneo, Forza Italia MP in the EU Policies Committee in the Chamber: “The Mattei Plan is a great foreign and economic policy initiative of our country which aims to provide an answer to some problems enormous ones of our time starting from that of immigration. We need to work to create hope for the future in the migrants’ countries of origin so that they can remain there, growing and investing in those territories. Only in this way is it possible to face the wave of migration. At the same time, by exporting skills and collaborations, it also becomes a great economic opportunity for Italy. A win-win operation for everyone. Italy has put its role on the national stage at the center, Prime Minister Meloni has ‘spent her time’, together with Deputy Prime Minister Tajani, developing a very complex package of interventions thanks also to private partnerships starting from large state companies . Now we begin to take the first concrete steps. For these objectives, innovation is a fundamental driver and a precondition for staying on international markets, especially for exceeding the medium-small size of our companies”.
“ONLY BILATERAL AGREEMENTS IN FAVOR OF ENI”
Critic Marco Grimaldi, parliamentarian of the Alleanza Verdi Sinistra in the Budget Committee at Montecitorio: “Unfortunately the Mattei plan described as an Italian model of investment in the name of cooperation with respect for the environment and peoples is actually reduced to bilateral agreements in particular with Algeria and Libya but also with Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ivory Coast, and other African countries, signed for investments by a particular state company, Eni, to make up for gas supplies that are not they come more from Russia. It is a project dedicated to energy conservation completely based on the fossil era aimed at making Italy the European gas hub. The populations of Africa will gain no benefit, where gas is the most destabilizing element in many regions. Not to mention the environmental impact of the plants and what is a process of radical change in policies with a view to ecological transition and a strong reduction in emissions to combat climate change”.
During the debate, moderated by Anna Maria Belforte, the professionals’ point of view was expressed by Mario Chiappuella, accountant and statutory auditor of the ODCEC of Massa Carrara: “The Mattei Plan has the merit of re-proposing Italy in a role of primary importance on the international scene. Our strategic position in the Mediterranean has always suggested investing politically and economically in that role as a bridge between two continents: Europe which seeks new opportunities to strengthen its economy, and Africa which represents a land with enormous potential, as already demonstrates the large Chinese presence. The affirmation of our country’s role as mediator and promoter in this adventure is certainly an extraordinary opportunity for development for our companies”.
“OPERATION TO ACQUIRE NATURAL GAS FROM PRODUCING COUNTRIES”
The conclusions were entrusted to Paolo Longoni, advisor to the National Institute of Accounting Experts: “Enrico Mattei was an enlightened president of Eni in the early 1960s who worked very actively to free the ‘Italy from the point of view of energy production or rather from the point of view of the acquisition of fuels. The impression one has of this ‘Plan’ actually has contents that are largely linked to the acquisition of natural gas. So much so thatthe main interlocutor countries of the Mattei Plan are Algeria, Morocco, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt, Congo, all natural gas producing countries. It is certainly true that there is an intention to encourage the internationalization of our companies towards those countries but it is equally true that the operation was born because we intend to acquire natural gas from producing countries”.