Italy is hosting a summit of African leaders in Rome on Monday where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is due to unveil energy deals in exchange for increased cooperation on migration, an
“equal to equal”
approach that is struggling to convince its detractors .
Issue of this conference: the unveiling of the
“Mattei plan”
, named after Enrico Mattei, founder of Eni (the Italian public energy giant), who, in the 1950s, advocated a cooperative relationship with African countries, by helping them develop their natural resources.
Implementation of a development plan
Italy, which chairs this year's G7, has pledged to make African development a central theme of its mandate, in part to increase its influence on a continent where powers such as China, Russia, Turkey, India and Japan have increased their political weight.
The leaders of more than 25 countries, whose list has not been officially communicated, are expected in the Senate, alongside representatives of United Nations agencies, the World Bank and the African Union, as well as institutions economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Particular attention should be paid to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, whose ruling military regimes announced on Sunday their withdrawal
“without delay”
from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The presidents of the European institutions, Ursula von der Leyen (Commission), Charles Michel (European Council) and Roberta Metsola (Parliament) are also announced at this conference, which will end on Monday evening.
Rome hopes to involve all these international players in the implementation of its plan on areas of development as varied as education, health systems and water.
But experts suggest that Italy could have difficulty obtaining support from the European Union, which has already presented an aid plan for Africa of 150 billion euros in 2022.
Four billion euros over the next five to seven years
Coming to power in 2022 on an anti-migrant program, the head of the Italian government hopes to make Italy a bridge between Europe and Africa, by providing the former with new supply routes for energy resources and the second massive investments.
For the moment, the Italian government, which reduced its bilateral development aid last year (excluding Libya), has allocated 2.8 million euros per year between 2024 and 2026 under the Mattei plan, of which we do not know not the amount or the terms.
In reality, according to the daily
Corriere della Sera
, Rome could allocate four billion euros to this plan over the next five to seven years, in agro-industry, transport and infrastructure - and especially energy.
Giorgia Meloni wants to capitalize on demand from other European countries seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian gas following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Around forty African civil society organizations have expressed concern that the The objective of this plan is simply
"to increase Italy's access to African fossil gas for the benefit of Europe and to strengthen the role of Italian companies in the exploitation of Africa's natural and human resources." »
.
On the scale of migration, the Mattei plan plans to tackle so-called “incentive”
factors
and persuade countries of origin to sign readmission agreements for rejected migrants.
Despite the Italian leader's commitments to stopping boats from North Africa, landings in Italy have increased sharply since she took office, going from some 105,000 migrants in 2022 to nearly 158,000 in 2023.