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Italy and France sign Rome treaty aimed at changing EU power balance

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Italy and France sign Rome treaty aimed at changing EU power balance
(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 12, 2021 French President Emmanuel Macron (R) welcomes Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi before the International conference on Libya at the Maison de la Chimie in Paris. - French President Emmanuel Macron visits Rome on November 25-26, 2021 to sign a new treaty with Italy, cementing ties between two founding EU members when the bloc itself is in flux. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Italian and French leaders drew a line under previous tensions between their countries as they signed a new treaty expected to shift the balance of power in Europe.

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French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi put pen to paper at the Quirinale palace, the office of President Sergio Mattarella, on Friday.

An aerial acrobatic display by both countries' air forces followed.

The deal is aimed at tilting the balance of power in Europe after the departure of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Italian government sources cited by Reuters.

The accord will boost cooperation between the countries on the economy and industry, culture and education, security, cross-border cooperation and foreign affairs.

READ ALSO: ‘We’ll miss you’: Merkel gets fond farewell in Rome

The project was first mooted in 2018 under Italy's then-premier Paolo Gentiloni, but relations between Rome and Paris deteriorated after the election of the populist government of the League and the Five Star Movement.

At a press conference, the leaders of the two Mediterranean powers long bound by historical, cultural and linguistic ties emphasised their closeness, but also their joint commitment to the wider EU project.

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Draghi called it a "historic moment", which "intends to favour and accelerate the process of European integration".

Macron said the treaty "seals a deep friendship".

"Founding countries of the EU... we defend a more integrated, more democratic, more sovereign Europe," he added.

Emmanuel Macron (L) and Mario Draghi shake hands after signing the Quirinale Treaty at Villa Madama in Rome on November 26th, 2021. Photo: Domenico Stinellis/POOL/AFP

The treaty was signed just weeks before France takes over the rotating EU presidency in January, and at a time of change on the continent.

Britain's messy exit and rows between the EU's liberal democracies and their eastern neighbours have roiled the bloc, while its de facto leader, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is finally bowing out following September elections.

Macron noted the two countries had had "difficult moments", likely a reference to a diplomatic crisis in early 2019 when Italy's then populist government openly criticised the French president.

Ties improved with a new government in Rome later that year and have gone from strength to strength with the arrival in office earlier this year of Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief.

Draghi thanked Macron for handing over former members of the far-left Red Brigades group that terrorised Italy in the 1970s and 1980s. Their safe haven for decades in France had been a long-standing source of tension.

There has also been simmering irritation in Italy over feelings it has been left by European allies to face tens of thousands of migrants from North Africa who arrive on its shores each year.

Draghi said both sides agreed on the need for a shared EU migration and asylum policy.

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Anonymous 2021/11/26 19:29
A 'more sovereign Europe' presumably requires a less sovereign France. They might even have to get that budget deficit under control .
  • Anonymous 2021/11/29 13:30
    Do as I say Alan, not as I do ;)

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