There is a paradox hovering over European politics: Italy, the birthplace of the Ventotene Manifesto, and thus the cradle of the idea of a federal and united Europe, is today led by those who seem to deny its most authentic spirit.

Giorgia Meloni, from the bench of Palazzo Chigi, launched yet another torpedo against that vision of Europe that was born on a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea, which has since become the symbol of hope and democratic redemption in the continent’s darkest century.

That anti-Italian love for the Europe of vetoes

In her speech in Parliament a few months ago, the President of the Council reiterated that ‘the Europe of Ventotene is not my Europe’, accusing the Spinellian manifesto of preaching a ‘revolution’ that, in her opinion, would have little to do with the reality of sovereign peoples and nations.
But the quoted passage was extrapolated and decontextualised: the ‘manifesto for a free and united Europe’ was a hymn to freedom, not an ideological proclamation.
The revolution evoked by Spinelli and Rossi was political and moral, not ideological: it was the rejection of the nationalisms that had destroyed the continent.

Yet Meloni insists on a populist model of Europe, made up of states (on paper) independent and jealous of their own prerogatives, in a protectionist and autarkic vision that is ill-suited to today’s global world (as well as to the characteristics of our peninsula, which has always lacked raw materials, is dependent on trade and has natural borders that are indefensible without external aid).

His is the Europe of borders, not bridges.
It is the same narrative that links the Italian prime minister to Trump and American conservatives, anxious to disarticulate the Union and redesign a new world order in which European states once again become vassals of Washington.
A design that finds backing in the nationalisms of Orban and Fico, and which is part of a broader confrontation between geopolitical blocs.

On the opposite front, Xi Jinping’s China is also working towards a global bipolarism based on ‘socialist capitalism’, exploiting the simultaneous attrition of Europe and Russia – trapped in the Ukraine war – to strengthen its influence over Asia, Africa and South America.
While the Chinese Communist Party expands in Mongolia, prepares the invasion of Taiwan (which it has never controlled in history) and consolidates its positions in Central Africa, the ‘old continent’ is still debating whether to count for something or disappear.

Italy and the European ambiguity of Palazzo Chigi

On 22 October, while the European Parliament passed the Gozi resolution calling for overcoming the unanimity rule, Giorgia Meloni defended the right of veto for individual nations in the House.
In practice, a ‘no’ to Europe’s ability to decide. A ‘no ‘ to that political efficiency that today is indispensable to withstand the impact of global powers.

A position that is in open contradiction with that of his own government.
Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the Council and Foreign Minister, had signed in May 2023 a ‘Letter of the Friends of the Qualified Majority’, on behalf of Italy, advocating the exact opposite: overcoming unanimity to strengthen the common foreign policy.

The President of the Republic himself, Sergio Mattarella, has repeatedly recalled the federalist dream of Spinelli and the founding fathers as the only way to restore Europe’s voice and weight in the world.

Today, therefore, the European partners are asking : “What is Italy’s real position?”
The answer, unfortunately, oscillates between ambiguities and contradictions. On the one hand Meloni’s flag-waving patriotism, on the other the concrete awareness – expressed by Defence Minister Crosetto – that Italy alone “does not play in the same league” as the United States, China, Russia or India.
In between, a Europe that risks being a spectator of itself.

Europeans at the crossroads: federation or irrelevance

History is once again knocking at the continent’s door. The war in Ukraine, the instability in the Middle East, the migratory crises, the climate challenge and the uncertainty in transatlantic relations have shown with brutal clarity that no European state can any longer guarantee security, prosperity and freedom on its own.
The European elections of 2024 delivered a fragmented Parliament, with a quarter of the seats occupied by populist and Eurosceptic forces: a dangerous sign of historical regression.

But the lesson of the 20th century remains engraved: division is weakness, unity is strength.
Returning to the‘Europe of nations’ would mean renouncing the Ventotene dream and restoring even within Europe those logics of power that set the last century on fire (and that outside Europe are also setting this century on fire).
The alternative is clear: either complete integration, or accept irrelevance.

Towards a Federal Europe

A powerful Europe, with a common defence; democratic, with a Parliament that really counts; solidarity, capable of reducing inequalities; sovereign, free from energy and strategic dependencies: this was Spinelli’s horizon, and should be Italy’s today.

To achieve this, however, courageous reforms are needed: abolishing the right of veto by expanding qualified majority voting, strengthening the EU budget, building a single foreign policy and genuine citizen participation in the common destiny.

The time of courage

Any postponement is tantamount to backtracking.
It means letting others – the United States, China or minor authoritarian powers – decide for us. It means condemning Europeans, including Italians, to historical marginality.
The Italian national interest, the real one, is not in sovereignist solitude, but in a Europe capable of acting with strength and democratic legitimacy.

Ventotene is not a dusty memory: it is the compass that can still show us the way. But today the Italian premier seems to have chosen to veer elsewhere.

History will judge whether this collision course with the island of Ventotene will be the symbol of a political season or the prelude to a European shipwreck.