Italy-Africa Plan Will Require Collaboration to Succeed
On January 29, 2024, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hosted the Italy-Africa Summit that unveiled a 5.5-billion-euro development initiative called the Mattei Plan. The strategy to bolster development in Africa hinges on reciprocity. Success depends on Italy involving its African partners on an equal footing in crafting sustainable provisions for enhanced cooperation.
Analysis
The Italy-Africa summit showcased
strong participation on both sides, with 46 African nations in attendance alongside major EU leadership – including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Council President Charles Michel, and Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The summit highlighted Italy's main goals of incrementally working with Africa to securitize illegal migration through investing in and developing African capacities across
five pillars: education and training, agriculture, health, energy, and water.
More robust effort from all parties involved is needed to achieve the plan's goals. In its current state, the Mattei Plan is underfunded, lacks African input, and ignores environmental sustainability goals. The initial 5.5-billion-euro fund will prove insufficient to finance any meaningful changes in African industries, which will necessitate consistent investments from external actors, including the EU. Further, this process requires African countries to play an active role in the specifics of the plan to avoid the asymmetries of previous initiatives. Last, the Mattei Plan provides a limited response to Africa's ongoing and anticipated climate change issues.
Financing the Plan
In her
Summit opening speech, Italian PM Georgia Meloni acknowledged that the 5.5 billion euro Mattei Plan will not be enough to finance significant infrastructure over the long-run. She called for the EU and international financial institutions to also get involved financially. The EU already earmarked
150 billion euros for its Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package; the Mattei Plan is a likely second funding destination.
Additionally, the Plan's success relies on Italy's ability to manage funds appropriately, which the country's investment bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) will oversee. The CDP will also establish a mechanism for drawing in private investment in 2024. The funding will follow an Italy-Africa investment and management plan. Previous iterations of similar programs, such as the early 2000s European Neighborhood Policy towards North Africa, faltered due to underfunded development aid and
weak financial instruments. Italy's already
strained public finances could lead to insufficient and inefficient finances for the Mattei Plan as well.
The Need for Equal Authorship
So far, African nations have had a minimal role in designing the Mattei Plan. This risks repeating Italy's history of one-sided policies towards Africa. PM Meloni has pledged to stay away from "
predatory temptations" that have previously strained European relations with Africa. This theme was echoed throughout the duration of the summit, with the African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat
explicitly calling for African leaders to construct the plan's specifics alongside their Italian counterparts.
The plan's success rests upon the buy-in of Mahamat and his constituents, some of whom
showed apprehension towards Meloni's claims. Furthermore, African advocacy groups
authored an open letter to the Italian government lamenting the plan's omission of consultations with African partners. A joint approach is critical to gain support for the Plan from African industries and civil society.
A solution to combating the fears of exclusion lies with the yet-to-be appointed
Steering Committee, which will oversee the plan. Properly staffing this committee will be critical to relieving the fears of African nations and ensure equal participation in the plan's design.
Absence of Climate Change Provisions
The Mattei Plan promises to curb illegal immigration into Europe and bolster Africa's renewable energy sector, but the current lack of climate change provisions endangers the plan's potential. Climate change is
exposing multiple sectors in Africa to considerable risks and has led to an increase in emigration.
The absence of measures to mitigate climate change in the plan will impede this outcome. Instead of addressing climate change risks, PM Meloni plans to incentivize the development of fossil fuel projects and enhance
gas energy routes. Kenyan citizens, in particular,
have been alarmed by their president William Ruto's support for the plan, which explicitly centers around Eni, Italy's national oil and gas company. This contradictory approach will hold back the plan's holistic framework, given that two of the outlined pillars – water and agriculture – are highly susceptible to ongoing climate disasters.
The Mattei Plan does not tackle other ongoing environmental security concerns that will cause further conflicts across the continent. Water disputes between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding the latter's Nile dam project have
exacerbated Egypt's water scarcity, heightening tensions between the two countries. Italy's goal to curb immigration will prove fruitless as extreme weather events, such as
floods in Libya and
droughts in Tunisia, continue to go unmitigated, increasing climate migration towards Europe.
Conclusion
The success of the Italy-Africa Mattei Plan is contingent on efficient financing, an equitable partnership with Africa, and sustainable climate initiatives. Should the plan fail, the door for meaningful cooperation with Africa will close for Italy, while tensions over immigration and the environment will only rise.
Nassim Ali Ahmad is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at JHU-SAIS. He predominantly focuses on Middle Eastern affairs, researching the intersections of political economy, security, immigration, and the environment. After obtaining his BA in Economics and Political Science from Clark University, Nassim worked on state policy in the House of Representatives for Massachusetts.
