Italy snubbed by Biden: Rome still without US ambassador
A bridge between East and West. Italy likes to present itself like this. Even now, when all the evidence says the opposite, Rome persists in describing itself as the link between United States and the other. An Other that was previously represented by the Soviet Union and today by People’s Republic of China. Maybe this was once the case, but not anymore.
The clear signal comes from the fact that there is still no news for the appointment of the new ambassador of the United States in Rome. For several months the headquarters of the diplomatic office of Via Veneto he is without a representative of Joe Biden’s administration, and the American president does not appear to be in a hurry to fill this void. A sign that Italy is not central to US strategies and relations, even afterwards the Atlanticist turn and anti Chinese by Draghi.
Biden has chosen ambassadors (almost) everywhere, not in Italy
While Biden’s US is slow to nominate a candidate for the embassy in Rome, several countries of the European Union have already received the announcement for the new appointees. With appointments for Berlin, Paris And Madrid, Italy remains the only large EU country to be sidelined. A lack that did not go unnoticed in Rome, where even the Holy See he renewed his representative, with the appointment of the former senator last October Joe Donnelly. In recent months it was expected that the same would also happen for the Italian office, but this has not been the case.
From the change of administration and with the Trumpian’s departure from the scene Lewis M. Eisenberg, is Thomas Smitham, in charge of interim affairs who has distinguished himself in the management of US aid to Italy, during the first phase of the pandemic, to hold the ranks of the office in via Veneto while from the White House they let it be known that the appointment of the ambassador it is not expected in the short term. Maybe in the spring. Perhaps. And still no name. Rome is not at the top of the Biden administration’s priority list.
Use hesitant: Draghi’s Atlanticist turn is not enough to mend
Left in limbo, Italy just has to wait and wonder why Joe neglects it. The first answer is that Washington does not forget the yellow-green approach to Beijing that culminated with the signing of the memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road in 2019 and the Biden administration has never made a secret of the concerns of a geopolitical shift from Italy towards the Asian giant. Giuseppe Conte remembers it well, who following Biden’s settlement had had to wait two weeks before receiving the usual diplomatic call.
The thaw brought it Mario Dragons, which with its Euro-Atlantic perspective and greater distance with China sealed with blows golden power he tried to heal relations with Washington. Not only on 5G network infrastructures, SuperMario has extended its umbrella also on semiconductors (blocking the acquisition of the small Lpe company in Baranzate by a Chinese company). In advance of the imposition of golden power, the agreement between Cnh Industrial and the Chinese company Faw Jiefang (protagonist in 2020 of a maxi investment in the Emilian Motor Valley) for the sale of Iveco was blown. Not to mention the statements of Draghi who, after the G7 in Cornwall last June, opened the review of the memorandum on the Belt and Road.
But the US is proceeding with caution and Italy is paying the price for its strategic instability. The American hesitation could also affect the race to the Quirinale, which could once again change the cards on the table. Draghi alone is not enough. And the American president could wait to understand how things will evolve in Italy before making his decision for the embassy.
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