[A-List] Europe/US rivalry

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As promised, related to the "Britain/US split" thread is this current
development, very reminiscent of the Westland affair that almost brought
down the Thatcher government in 1986. Italy was involved then, too, as
the government's preferred bidder for Westland was the US/Italian
Sikorsky-Fiat consortium, rather than the European consortium involving
British Aerospace that Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine was trying to
put together. The split within the Cabinet resulted in the resignations
of Heseltine and Leon Brittan, Trade and Industry Secretary, who went on
to become Deputy Head of the European Commission and got his revenge on
his former sponsor (Thatcher) by pushing forward European integration
(and incidentally helping to put into place the infrastructure to help
the continuing UK "takeover" of the EU apparatus -- Brittan has been
succeeded as Deputy by none other than Neil Kinnock, arch-"moderniser"
of the Labour Party during the 1980s and one of the few, if not the
only, survivor of the Commission headed up by Jacques Santer).

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Airbus project pullout prompts tussle in Rome

Financial Times, Oct 26, 2001
By JAMES BLITZ

A big tussle was developing last night in the centre-right Italian
government led by Silvio Berlusconi
over a decision to quit a flagship European defence project. 

Antonio Martino, defence minister, insisted that the government would
stand by a decision to quit the
Airbus 400M programme, a joint project to build a large military
transport, despite objections from
Renato Ruggiero, foreign minister. 

"This aircraft is not necessary for Italy's military requirements. . .
we have to spend our resources on
other projects," said Mr Martino, a Eurosceptic figure, on national
television. 

On Wednesday night, Mr Ruggiero sharply criticised the move, saying he
had not been consulted, and
that he hoped the decision "was not the final one". 

Mr Ruggiero said if there were economic and financial reasons for
quitting the Airbus programme,
those arguments must be heard. "But the overall decision has got to be
justified," he said. "I am
certainly extremely sensitive to arguments that would have led to a
different decision being taken." 

Mr Ruggiero, former head of the World Trade Organisation, is a career
diplomat and apolitical figure.
His entry into Mr Berlusconi's government was promoted by President
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the head
of state, as a means of signalling Italy's continued commitment to the
European Union. 

However, Mr Berlusconi has made little secret of his wish to forge a
special bilateral relationship with
the US. Mr Martino had admitted earlier this week that he had "many
personal doubts" about
continuing with the A400M programme. Industry analysts think Italy wants
to enhance co-operation in
this field with Lockheed Martin or Boeing in the US. 

Some European diplomats think Italy's decision to quit the project
explains why Jacques Chirac,
French president, excluded Mr Berlusconi from a mini-summit with Britain
and Germany in Ghent last
Friday to discuss the attack on Afghanistan's Taliban regime. 

But whatever the reason, Italy's centre-left opposition thinks tensions
between Mr Berlusconi and Mr
Ruggiero are emerging as the main fault-line in the centre-right
government. "This may be a short-term
problem, one that reflects the new government's initial difficulties
working out a foreign policy line," said
a leading centre-left figure. "But we may be on the verge of a major
rift between the two, with
significant repercussions." 

Another sign of growing tension over Italy's foreign policy came in a
newspaper interview with
Francesco Cossiga, a former president. 

He called on Mr Berlusconi to implement the immediate closure of Nato's
military bases in Italy,
arguing that Italy was being ignored by the US and its main European
partners. 

"We must accept that Nato is finished," said Mr Cossiga. "Its only role
is to help the US dress up its
military operations. We must start raising the problem of Nato's
military bases in Italy. Closing them is
the only way to avoid Italy falling into league division two."

Full article at:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?print=true&id=01
1026001201

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx