Italy Challenges the EU’s Russia Policy
Rome wants concessions from Brussels, and it’s strong enough to get them.
By Nora T. Kalinskij
Migration policy, trans-Atlantic trade tensions, economic and political reform – it’s no secret that the European Union is divided on many issues. One of the bloc’s last bastions of consensus has been its sanctions on Russia, enacted in the wake of Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and tightened since then. To be sure, the consensus has been threatened, but to date, no challenger had been strong enough to break the united front. Italy is that challenger.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, has made quite a name for himself since assuming his position at the start of June. Last weekend, Salvini was in Moscow, where he declared during a press conference that his government could veto a renewal of EU sanctions against Russia when they are up for review in January 2019. The sanctions, which were just extended on July 5, must be reapproved every six months, and all it takes is one dissenter to cancel them.
For Italy, this is part serious threat, part negotiating ploy. The sanctions have been costly for all of Europe but especially for Italy. Italian exports to Russia in both 2015 and 2016 (the most recent year for which official data is available) were almost half what they were in 2013, the last full year before the sanctions were enacted. By mid-2017, Italy had lost more than 10 billion euros’ ($11.7 billion) worth of exports to Russia. (Northern Italy was hit particularly hard. It’s also the base of support for Salvini’s League party, formerly the Northern League.) Italy had the second-lowest growth among G-7 countries last year, and lifting sanctions would be a welcome boost for Italian businesses.
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