Italy’s European policy

Abstract

After the Second World War Italy’s international position was very weak, sharply contrasting her aspirations. For a few years, Italy’s European choice was largely influenced by the belief that it would strengthen Italy’s international status and would favour the revision of the peace treaty. Such a choice was also part of a wider Western alignment which would offer the Italian moderate political forces a further boost to impose themselves as the leaders of the country and to win the harsh contest with the powerful forces of the Left. The real turning point in Italy’s European choice was the emerging functionalist approach advocated by Monnet, and the launching of the Schuman Plan in 1950. While Italy was sceptical of the EDC, she could not contradict her Europeanist commitment. Therefore in 1951, Prime Minister De Gasperi launched an ambitious scheme for a European Political Community. This period can be regarded as the climax in both De Gasperi’s and Italy’s federalist choice. Through the participation to the EEC, Italy experienced a process of economic and social modernization that contributed to the radical transformation of the country. Later, in spite of these achievements, Italy’s position in the integration process was severely hampered by her internal political and social crisis and by the mid-70s she was perceived as one of the weakest links in the Western European system. In the 1980s Italy experienced a period of apparent economic recovery, political stability and social modernization. The period between 1992 and 1996 was characterised by a series of weak governments having as a main goal the recovery of the Italian economic and financial system to comply with the demanding economic clauses of the Maastricht Treaty. In this connection, Italy’s faithfulness to the European integration was a vital factor as the country’s future was closely tied to the EU and its developments. The majority of the Italian public opinion was mobilized through the catchword of “Italy must join Europe”, but some forms of euro-scepticism began to surface in the centre-right parties. The European choice is still a paramount aspect of Italy’s foreign policy and the country’s international role is still linked to the developments in the European construction.