Italy less a “slacker” and more a “leader”, at least when it comes to Europe’s principal international concerns. According to the European Foreign Policy Scorecard published by the European Council of Foreign Relations, in 2013 our country made a significant comeback that showed in a renewed commitment on foreign policy issues, cooperation and development.
The political “weight” of States
The Scorecard, which ranks Member States in terms of their political “weight”, overturns some clichés about the usual firsts and lasts: France emerges the most active; Germany loses weight while Italy gains, going from 3 areas of successful action in 2012 to its current 9. This fourth edition of the Scorecard, which “aims to achieve an overall evaluation of the foreign-policy effectiveness of the EU during the course of the past year”, paints a more positive picture of European foreign policy performance in 2013 as compared with 2012.
The report examines 66 individual European foreign policy components in 5 key sectors — relations with the U.S., China, Russia, enlarged Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa — and assesses European performance in multilateral settings and crisis management. Two “noteworthy successes” at European level included the accord between Belgrade and Pristina and the agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme.