Introduction where wages doubled, if not tripled, over the
same period (IZA Institute of Labor Economics,
THE STRICT PARAMETERS OF THE 2020).
European Union are trapping Italy in a cage The comparison with the rest of the EU does
with little space for manoeuvre. It is the only not yield better results considering the economies
country in the European Union where average closest to Italy. For instance, in Germany and
wages have fallen over the last 30 years. Since France the average wages increased by 33.7%
1990, wages in Italy have stagnated, while and 31.1% respectively, despite starting from
in most other advanced countries they have already high levels. Even though the rest of
increased significantly. In 2020, due to the Southern Europe recorded the lowest wage
impact of Covid-19, Italy's average wage fell growth, the balance remains positive compared
below the levels of 30 years earlier, by 2.89% to Rome. In Greece, for example, the increase
to USD 37,769 per year. Over the same period, was 30%, in Spain, which had a labour market
1990-2020, wages in the OECD area increased by dynamic in many ways comparable to Italy's,
33.09%. This is quite different from the countries the average wage still increased, albeit slightly
of the former Soviet bloc or the former USSR, (+6.2%) (Openpolis, 2021Openpolis (2021). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.).
B R I q • Volu me 4 Issue 2 Spring 2023
At the beginning of the 1990s, Italy was Evidently, as Antonio Gramsci used to say,
the seventh European country just behind ‘history teaches but has no pupils’ (Telos Press,
Germany - in terms of average annual wages- 1975). Indeed, Italy made the same mistake as
by contrast, in 2020 it dropped to thirteenth early as 1926, during the Fascist regime, when
place, below countries such as France, Ireland, Benito Mussolini announced that Italy would
Sweden and Spain, which had lower wages in conduct a policy of revaluing the lira against
the 1990s (Openpolis, 2021Openpolis (2021). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). sterling, the world’s reference currency at the
time. The consequences were similar to those
Over the last thirty years we of today: collapse of production, rising
have witnessed an almost total unemployment, large trade deficit and wage
subordination of Rome to the deflation.
interests of Washington and
Brussels. US policy in the Mediterranean and the
new Italian government The entire Italian economy is in great pain,
especially since Rome joined the so-called There is another factor that blocks Italian policy:
Eurozone by adopting the common European the United States of America. Since the end of the
currency instead of the Lira. The scenario may Second World War, it is a fact that Washington
be described as devastating. Between 1985 has been the real ruler of Italian foreign policy.
and 2001 Italy’s gross domestic product had Even during the years of the so-called ‘Prima
grown by EUR 482 billion (+44%), between Repubblica’, Italy managed to carve out important
2002 - the year Italy entered the euro - and spaces of autonomy for itself while remaining a
2017, growth amounted to 31 billion, i.e. country fundamentally with limited sovereignty.
barely 2% in fifteen years. (Bloomberg, 2018Bloomberg (2018). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.) Instead, over the last thirty years we have
With entry into the Euro, exports, which witnessed an almost total subordination of Rome
had always been the strong point of the Italian to the interests of Washington and Brussels.
economy, plummeted. By analyzing again During Obama’s second term and Donald
the data between 1985 and 2001, we see that Trump’s four years, the Mare Nostrum -in
Italian exports had grown by 136.3%, while, particular the eastern Mediterranean- clearly
since the advent of the Euro, growth stopped represented the gradual US disengagement.
at a modest 40.9% (Panorama, 2018Panorama (2018). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). However, with the arrival in the White House
Per capita GDP is at the same level as in 1999, of the Democrat Joe Biden the United States has
unemployment is still too high and industrial once again begun to weave the Mediterranean
production is languishing (Eurostat, 2022Eurostat (2022). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). web in order to contain part of the Rimland, the
All of the above are the effects of pegging to rise of the Eurasian powers: Russia and China. In
a strong nominal standard. In practice, joining addition to avoiding the success of China’s New
the Euro for Italy was substantially equivalent Silk Road that tries to integrate maritime and
to pegging the lira to the German mark. land geopolitical paradigms.
Fabrizio Verde - Italy and the BRICS alternative
On the evening of 16 November local time, President Xi Jinping met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Bali. (India Embassy of the People's Republic of China, 2022India Embassy of the People's Republic of China (2022). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.)
In this geopolitical scenario, Italy could play The BRICS alternative
into the hands of NATO and its new strategy
towards the southern flank if the Giorgia Meloni This situation forces Italy to think about how to
opts for an Atlanticist. As Michael Carpenter free itself from a stranglehold that could turn out
-formerly Biden’s foreign policy advisor- said in to be deadly. All the more so in a phase of world
an interview with the newspaper ‘La Stampa’ in affairs where, due to the energy crisis triggered by
2020: ‘This is something we have to coordinate the imposition of sanctions on Russia, the European
with the Italians. I think you will be enormously Union dependent on cheap gas supplied by Moscow
important for NATO’s southern strategy, risks implosion.
regarding North Africa and the Mediterranean, In this regard, Italy could turn its gaze towards
which needs to be strengthened. We will look the group that embodies the new multipolar world,
to you all for a leading role in these regions’. (La namely the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and
Stampa, 2020) At the same time, as far as the South Africa).
eastern Mediterranean basin is concerned, the US The BRICS group was set up on the impulse of
has chosen Greece as a NATO military reference Russia to create coordination between those count-
point, especially in an anti-Turkish function. For ries working for a multipolar international system,
a military and geopolitical strategy that envisages for cooperation instead of competition, for a more
the use of Greece and Cyprus as pawns to encircle balanced development, for a return to the primary
a Türkiye increasingly oriented towards the East. role of the real economy over the financial economy.
B R I q • Volu me 4 Issue 2 Spring 2023
A project that, unlike the declining and interesting scenarios. However, this
European Union, promotes, protects and government does not have the political will
enhances the identity of its member states; and probably not even the strength to embark
it values national sovereignty, territorial on such a path. Going back to Gramsci: The
integrity, independence, unity and sovereign old world is dying. The new one is slow to
equality of nation-states. By joining the appear. And in this chiaroscuro, monsters
BRICS coordination, Russia and China could are born.
give Italy back its historical role as the centre
of gravity, conjunction and stabilization of References
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Leonardo, a global leader in the aerospace, bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-18/is-the-
defence and security sectors, as well as the euro-to-blame-for-italy-s-economic-
woes#xj4y7vzkg agri-food market and the tourism sector. Eurostat (2022Eurostat (2022). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.), Main GDP aggregates per capita. Furthermore, in the Mediterranean we https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/ have another country, Türkiye, which has Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti Hindistan Elçiliği. (2022) begun to integrate into Eurasia, and is a http://in.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zgxw/202211/ candidate to join the BRICS, indeed it is t20221117_10976697.htm adresinden alındı.
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The decline of the US and the European Telos Press (1975), Reference from History, Philosophy
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