sábado, 19 de dezembro de 2015

Matteo Renzi picks fight with Angela Merkel


Matteo Renzi picks fight with Angela Merkel

You cannot say that you are giving your blood to Europe,’ the Italian premier told the German chancellor at the EU summit.

By JACOPO BARIGAZZI 12/18/15, 6:28 PM CET Updated 12/18/15, 7:19 PM CET

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has built a reputation as a mischief-maker on the European scene, but at a Brussels summit Friday he took it to the next level: He went after Germany.

Renzi’s clash with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the meeting of EU leaders Friday spiced up what turned out to be a somewhat lackluster set of accomplishments from the two-day summit.

It was very impressive how tough he was” in confronting Merkel on several key EU issues, said a minister who was in the room.

The clash with Merkel highlights Renzi’s increasingly confrontational posture towards EU officials. In the last six months, he’s quarreled with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and other leaders and diplomats often gripe about him as pushy and full of himself.

Among Renzi’s issues with Merkel was a deposit guarantee system in the eurozone. Germany is reluctant to go ahead with the proposal as German savers could be exposed to risks from polices implemented in other countries.

With Italians increasingly disillusioned with German-led Europe, his more aggressive strategy could be popular with voters.

The Italian premier, who has been pushing for the proposal, accused Merkel of reneging on an earlier pledge to support it. In his remarks on the deposit guarantee system, Renzi had the backing of two left-wing governments, Portugal and Greece, according to the source.

“Merkel was on the defensive,” said the minister, who added that the German chancellor denied she had changed her view on the proposal, saying it had never been a priority for Berlin.

Enough is enough

Tensions between Italy and Germany had already been rising ahead of the summit. After the success of Marine Le Pen and her National Front party in the first round of French regional elections two weeks ago, Renzi took to Facebook to blame European economic policies for the rise of the far-right party, falling short of openly accusing Berlin for its austerity push.

A top Italian official before the meeting expressed the view of his government when asked about the fight with Germany, telling POLITICO: “genug ist genug” which in German means “enough is enough.”

Renzi is under political pressure at home, facing local elections next year in which he is expected to lose ground to populist, Euroskeptic parties. During the course of the two-day meeting in Brussels, Renzi went on the attack against Berlin several times, according to sources. And with Italians increasingly disillusioned with German-led Europe, his more aggressive strategy could be popular with voters.

Pipeline problems

Renzi also accused Merkel of a political double-standard over the involvement of German companies in the construction of a gas pipeline with Russia, Nord Stream, at a time when the EU is about to approve the extension of sanctions against Moscow, according to a diplomat.

Renzi said he was opposed to automatically renewing the sanctions without opening a discussion on the pipeline project. During the summit, leaders discussed the merits of the controversial project after several others raised concerns.

Renzi also accused Germany of profiting from the euro crisis, pointing to moves by the German airport operator Fraport to buy airports in Greece after Merkel urged Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to privatize them.

“You cannot say that you are giving your blood to Europe,” Renzi told Merkel after the German chancellor spoke of Berlin’s push for European growth, according to an official.

I get on very well with Angela” — Matteo Renzi.

After the summit ended, both leaders sought to downplay their confrontation.

Merkel, while acknowledging a spirited exchange with Renzi over the pipeline issue and deposit insurance scheme, refused to give ground.

“The German position is that we reject a collectivization of deposit insurance,” Merkel said. “I made the German position clear again.”

Renzi also went for a soft line: “I get on very well with Angela,” he said, denying that he attacked Germany. “I did not attack it and I will never attack it.”

The Italian premier told journalists that his raising of the Nord Stream issue “triggered a nice discussion. For the first time a majority of countries supported Italy. Those against it were only Germany and the Netherlands.”

Another signal of Renzi’s combative posture came just before the summit started with the news, confirmed by other sources, that he was planning to remove the Italian ambassador to the European Union, Stefano Sannino, because he considers him too soft.

Sannino will be replaced by Italy’s current ambassador in Moscow, Cesare Maria Ragaglini, according to press reports confirmed by sources. Ragaglini knows less about Brussels than the EU veteran Sannino, but Renzi likes him because he is much more aggressive, diplomats said.

Awkward customer

Renzi has a history of rubbing EU leaders the wrong way. EU officials said that often during summits, he spends his time looking at his mobile phone, checking messages, and refusing to pay attention to other speakers. When he speaks, some leaders and diplomats leave the room, the officials said, adding that he often comes across as brash, said one official.

His relationship with Tusk has been described as “often difficult” by officials on both sides. After a meeting in October, Renzi openly attacked Tusk after the former Polish prime minister put Italy and Hungary in the same basket of countries that are not respecting EU rules on migration.

“What President Tusk said showed little respect for the efforts of the Italian people,” Renzi said.

Two months ago, Juncker vented his frustration at Renzi during a breakfast with journalists. Juncker argued that the Commission had done more to help Italy than to help France in approving their budgets for next year but Renzi still insisted on attacking the Commission, according to a source who was at the meeting.

Renzi’s relations with European Parliament President Martin Schulz are also not always easy. In October, Renzi complained to Schulz that he had invited Merkel and French President François Hollande to speak to the Parliament.

According to a parliamentary source, Renzi said he was upset that he was not invited.

Schulz, according to the source, reacted angrily, saying that if Renzi wanted to be more present in Europe he should do a better job of showing it.

Hans von der Burchard, Matthew Karnitschnig and Quentin Ariès contributed to this article.

Authors:


Jacopo Barigazzi  

Sem comentários: