Minister Paolo Gentiloni, 2015 seems to have been marked from start to finish by the challenge posed by Da’esh. Now the “caliph” ” al-Baghdadi has appeared again and is saying that the US and Russian raids have not weakened it.
“Al Baghdadi’s message, quite apart from the necessary verification, which requires more time, aims to display strength at a time which is actually very difficult militarily. After losing Sinjar, the terrorist group is now surrounded at Ramadi. Da’esh certainly must not be under-estimated; the challenge will be a long one, but the international community has become more effective in its action”.
They’re ready to react with terrorist attacks in Europe: the Austrian police have issued a new alarm.
“The Austrian police are referring to people who have been reported. I wouldn’t transform this into anything more or less that the scenario we’ve been in for months now. Nothing more, because there is no precise information on specific places, dates or details. Nothing less, because in Italy, as in Europe, we are all very well aware of what Da’esh and its acolytes have done and can do. We are working on security, without letting ourselves be misled. We fully realise that they will try to strike again”.
The Italian government has increased its engagement over time in Iraq. Now you’ll be putting 450 soldiers on the ground near Mosul.
“They won’t be going to fight at Mosul, but to protect the work of repairing the dam. We’ve made a choice in a country where Italy has been engaged to a significant degree: we’re in the two strategic areas of Iraq. The work on the Mosul dam is very important and one week ago the Iraqi Foreign Minister confirmed that everything will be done in very close coordination with the government in Baghdad. We’re also leading the training of the Kurdish ‘peshmerga’ at Erbil, and are training the police and security forces who will be entering the Anbar region”.
What about the Sunni region where the Caliphate has become entrenched? How will the mainly Shia police control any Sunni areas wrenched from the Caliphate’s hands?
“Initially it was mainly Shia police who were being sent to the liberated zones; now most of the new police officers trained by Italy are Sunni. They will ensure that there are no reprisals”.
In the meantime, however, in Syria the fight against Da’esh still has many obscure aspects. What’s your view of the fact that the Russian bombing raids have eliminated an Islamist militia leader who was an enemy of Assad?
“What happened must not block the narrow negotiating pathway that has at last opened up. In Syria, we’re following two very sensitive political exercises that are interwoven with the military operations. The first aims to establish agreement between the Vienna Group countries on which of the groups are terrorist organisations. The second, coordinated by the UN, needs to identify the anti-Assad groups that in January will be taking part in the talks with members of the Syrian regime. If we do actually succeed in getting the negotiations under way, the ceasefire will take effect”.
Libya. Everyone’s talking about a future Italian leadership on the military level too.
“We finally have 2 positive new developments. The agreement between the main parties on the Libyan side and the international support promoted by the United States and by us. Now a 3rd step is needed: the creation of the new government with the fullest support possible”.
Europe: is it not the case that Renzi’s Italy, with the latest announcements in Brussels, with the criticism of Chancellor Merkel, has simply chosen to go along with some of the anti-European stances so dear to your populist adversaries?
“On 19 January the foreign ministers of the 6 founding countries of the united Europe will be meeting in Rome. We want to understand the best way forward, with more unity but also with more speed and readiness on the part of the EU. The Italian government is working to strengthen a ‘possible’ Europeanism that must respond to citizens. The rigid way Europe sometimes addresses economic policy questions, and others, risks undermining the European Union”.
For all the caution and hair-splitting, this new stance you’ve adopted simply looks anti-German.
“Discussing issues that the Italian government is beginning to pose is neither anti-European nor anti-German. We share many chapters of European foreign policy with Germany. We have the same view on the Ukrainian crisis and on the consequences of the sanctions, we want dialogue with Russia. We are united on this and on many other issues”.
So what’s changed? On North Stream you opened up a frontal attack.
“We simply asked for the criteria used for South Stream (ed’s note: the gas pipeline which from Russia should arrive in Europe through the Black Sea) to also be applied for North Stream. This isn’t an Italy-Germany duel, but a comparison between different ideas on the outlook for Europe. If we stand still in 2016 I can see a perfect storm arriving to fuel anti-European sentiment. We need to break this short circuit”.
Don’t you think that Brussels, the city of bureaucrats, has the power to make you pay for this desire to challenge them?
“There are bureaucrats in Rome as there are in Brussels and elsewhere. Italy obeys the rules and is applying the margins of flexibility allowed by the budget rules in a stability law that is cutting taxes and promoting growth. If there is rigour, we want to see it applied to everybody to the same degree. Sometimes the decisions taken are incomprehensible: like deciding on infringement procedures on immigration, which is like bureaucratic nit-picking against a country that for 2 years now has been providing an example in sea rescues and in saving migrants”.
