At Apulia G7 leaders will make a show of unity. But beneath the surface, divisions and splits between allies will simmer”
BRIDGING THE DIVIDE Finally, Italy is trying to lead in bridging the divide between the West and ‘the rest’, particularly with African countries. Its goal is to include Italy’s Mattei Plan fully in the G7 agenda. The plan was launched in January with a view to enhancing development in Africa in a holistic, structural manner. Italy hopes that all leaders will redouble their efforts towards the continent, avoiding the scenario in which Africa becomes the West’s ‘missing continent’, thus leaving further room for non-Western actors. The Italian government is also eyeing improved partnerships with origin and transit countries in Africa as a means to fight irregular migration, which neared record highs last year. Indeed, the focus on “mutual beneficial partnerships, away from paternalistic or predatory logics”, as Italy describes its Mattei Plan, should be in the G7’s DNA. For decades now, the G7 has explicitly set ambitious targets for development cooperation, periodically lessened the debt burden of poor countries by calling for renegotiations, and pooled (limited) financial resources to tackle climate adaptation and diseases that are endemic in the African continent, such as malaria. Italy’s decision to invite the African Union to the summit and six African countries (including South Africa) is a clear signal of the willingness to seriously engage the continent. As the summit approaches, it is clear that this ambitious agenda will only serve as a footprint for further action down the road. But refocusing the G7 away from the concerns of a ‘leading West’, capitalising on what the Japanese presidency did in 2023 and striving to go further should be welcomed by all.
ANTONIO VILLAFRANCA Antonio Villafranca is director of research and co-head of the Europe and Global Governance Centre at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies. He teaches international relations at Bocconi University, where he was also lecturer of European Economic Policies from 2016 to 2018. At ISPI he has coordinated several research projects funded by Italian institutions and by the EU Commission and Parliament. He also served as ISPI Coordinator of Think20 Italy in 2021 and is currently coordinating ISPI’s Think7. He publishes extensively on global and European governance and on EU policies. MATTEO VILLA Matteo Villa is a senior research fellow at ISPI and co-heads the ISPI Data Lab, monitoring geopolitical and geo-economic trends. He is a co-chair of the T20 Task Force on Global Health and Covid-19, as well as a member of the T20 Task Force on Migration. Formerly, at ISPI, he oversaw the Energy Watch, edited ISPI/Treccani’s Atlante Geopolitico and managed RAstaNEWS, an FP7 EU-wide macroeconomic project. He specialises in global health governance, international migration governance, statistical modelling, European politics and energy issues.
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2024 — G7 ITALY: THE APULIA SUMMIT
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