It’s hard to imagine a more dazzling contrast. In February 2019, Medef and its Italian equivalent, Confindustria, organized their second Economic Forum in Versailles, in the midst of Franco-Italian psychodrama. A few days earlier, the French Ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, had just been recalled for consultations in Paris, in reaction to an impromptu visit by the then Vice-President of the Council, Luigi Di Maio (Mouvement 5 Etoiles, anti-system), came to meet members of the “yellow vests” movement and assure them of its support. The relationship between the two countries was at its lowest in decades, to the point of becoming a threat to the economy. So the two employers’ unions had publicly called for a rapid de-escalation: “At the time, we were forced to play a political role”, entrusted to La Repubblica the president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux.
Two years later, the context has radically changed. The vindictive sovereignty of the first Conte government (June 2018 – September 2019) is no more than a memory, the M5S has fallen into line, and Luigi Di Maio has melted into the costume of a very consensual minister of affairs foreigners, while the former president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi took the head of an Italian government resolutely pro-European. In addition, the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the reconciliation between the two countries, which announce the signing before the end of the year 2021 of a Quirinal treaty formalizing the relationship between Paris and Rome of a manner comparable to the Elysée Treaty – extended by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle – which governs the functioning of the Franco-German couple.
“Astral conjunction”
Also, for the third edition of the event, nothing was too good, and it is an impressive delegation of great French and Italian bosses who met in Rome on June 10 and 11, in the presence of political leaders who did not constantly emphasized the complementarity existing between two countries which are each other’s second trading partner. “It’s very simple, everyone wanted to be part of it, confides Bernard Spitz, co-president of the Europe and International Commission of Medef. The only obstacle we encountered was the health constraints. “
The two countries have a series of common characteristics, including structurally low growth and high indebtedness
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