Macron it says one thing clearly. Melons and Merz they support another. Never before has the political leadership of Europe been so contestable as in this phase. With the traditional Franco-German axis definitively archived, faced with the constant pressure of Donald Trump’s aggressive policy, a crossroads seems to be emerging: Europe will take the direction desired by France or the one outlined by convergence of interests between Italy and Germany? Or will we be able to find a synthesis?
It is good to start from the words spoken by Emmanuel Macron in an interview given to the European media including Il Sole 24 Ore, exclusively for Italy. ”It is the moment of European awakening: we must emerge from the state of geopolitical minority. We are dealing with an emergency that requires a massive reaction” is the culmination of an analysis that arrives in a phase that Macron defines as an ”immense challenge” in the community’s history, ”marked by the Chinese tsunami on a commercial level and by the micro-second instability on the American side”. The head of the Elysée, in particular, said he wanted to propose to his partners new joint debtthis time to finance defense and technology. However, this hypothesis was immediately ruled out by German sources, who reiterated the Chancellery’s firm ‘no’.
For Macron, ”the question is whether we are capable of becoming a power, on an economic, financial, military and even democratic level. The time has come – he says – for European awakening. We must get out of the state of geopolitical minority. We are dealing with a state of emergency that requires a massive reaction: a Europe that is a power that simplifies, that protects, that assumes European preference, that invests and innovates and that, at the same time, truly decides to diversify and reduce the risks of its economy”. There are four lines of action: the simplification and completion of the single market, commercial diversification and de-risking from accumulated dependencies, the promotion of European preference (i.e. the European buy principle), investments in innovation.
However, all this must take into account the proposal, alternative in many respects, which has been worked on for some time in Rome and Berlin. Just remember the Italian-German document last autumn on the automotive sector, the meeting between Merz and Meloni in Rome and the joint document on competitiveness. Three moments of strong pragmatism to promote an ambitious agenda in Brussels on competitiveness, the fight against deindustrialisation and de-bureaucratisation. Especially on the German side, little has been done to avoid showing dissatisfaction with the slowness of the EU Commission on these dossiers and a strong disappointment towards Macron for the vote against the Mercosur agreement.
Merz and Meloni’s strategy aims to build a stronger Europe that is economically independent. But without putting aside the historic alliance with the United States. For this reason, the ‘buy European’ invoked by Macron as a reaction to American protectionism, in their interpretation, must be scaled down and limited only to truly strategic sectors.
In this scenario, the move agreed by Merz and Meloni in these hours weighs heavily. They were, in fact, the first two leaders to respond to the call to ‘pragmatism’ by Mario Draghiconvening an EU pre-summit on competitiveness for Thursday 12 February, forerunner of the informal retreat that will bring together the leaders of the Twenty-Seven at the Belgian castle of Alden Biesen, together with Draghi himself and Enrico Letta.
It’s about testing a new approach to decision-making, with restricted invitations before each European Council meeting, to circumvent the slowness and inertia plaguing Europe. After an initial hesitation, Macron will also be there on Thursday. Despite the friction and disagreements, the French president did not want to remain outside the group that aims to coordinate to push the priorities and the consequent decisions that must then pass to the Council. In a nutshell, Rome and Berlin bet on ‘enhanced cooperation’a formula envisaged by the Treaties, to relaunch competitiveness through alliances between countries willing to go faster.
Germany and Italy increasingly closer, also due to political affinities, and France in embarrassment, also due to the internal weakness that continues to undermine Macron’s leadership. From here we start again to try to find a synthesis that can truly guide Europe. (From Fabio Insenga)
date: 2026-02-11 00:05:00
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