A-Infos (en) Italy, FdCA, IL CANTIERE #37 - Rome's Will: The Mattei Plan Between Imperial Ambitions and African Realities - Totò Caggese (ca, de, it, pt, tr) [machine translation]

A Name, a Story ---- Enrico Mattei was a state entrepreneur, founder of 
ENI, capable of challenging the interests of major Western oil companies 
with an independent, unscrupulous, and cooperative approach toward the 
Global South. ---- His figure is now being evoked by the Meloni 
government to give historical legitimacy to a new geopolitical project: 
the Mattei Plan for Africa. But what is being celebrated is more a 
symbol than a real continuity: today's Mattei does not challenge, but 
rather organizes; he does not build relationships from the bottom up, 
but moves along strategic lines already mapped out by Brussels and Rome.

In the official document presenting the Plan, the word "Rome" appears 
sixteen times. Not as a geographical reference, but as a political 
subject: "Rome's Will," "Rome's Geostrategic Ambition," "Rome's Foreign 
Policy." A lexicon that evokes the imperial past and fascist rhetoric, 
reintroducing a top-down vision of power and action in the world.

This is where the title of this article comes from: "The Will of Rome" 
is not a neutral phrase.

Anatomy of a Plan

The Mattei Plan was established with Law No. 2/2024 and formalized 
during the Italy-Africa Summit in January 2024. Presented as an open 
programmatic platform, it has six priority axes: education, health, 
agriculture, water, energy, and infrastructure. It initially involves 
nine countries: Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Ethiopia, 
Mozambique, Ivory Coast, and Congo.

Available resources amount to €5.5 billion: €3 billion from the Italian 
Climate Fund and €2.5 billion from Development Cooperation. These are 
supplemented by instruments under development through CDP, SACE, and 
public-private partnerships.

The stakeholders involved are the main players in the "Country System": 
Eni, Sparkle, Enel Green Power, Ferrovie, Leonardo, and Fincantieri.

At present, however, concrete impact indicators, a comprehensive 
strategy, and a real mechanism for engaging African partners are lacking.

The Plan's governance is entrusted to a Mission Structure within the 
Prime Minister's Office and a Steering Committee chaired by Giorgia Meloni.

Behind the Rhetoric: Migration, Security, and Old Ghosts

The Mattei Plan treads an ambiguous path: on the one hand, it claims to 
transcend the charitable or extractive logic of cooperation; on the 
other, it follows a well-known security-extractive framework. Management 
of migration flows is included in the founding law, although formally 
excluded from the six pillars.

Many African and international observers denounce the lack of genuine 
consultation with African civil society, the lack of alignment with the 
African Union's Agenda 2063, and the risk that cooperation will be 
directed more toward Italian interests (energy, migration, geopolitical 
prestige) than toward autonomous African development.

Mario Raffaelli (Amref Italia) wrote that the Plan "can only be 
successful if it involves African diasporas, civil society, and 
emancipates itself from economic logic." Carlota G. Encina's report 
(CSIS, 2024) notes how the entire European policy in the Sahel has 
failed, based as it is on containment, security, and cultural 
disconnection: today, Sahelian governments are looking elsewhere, to 
Moscow or Beijing, and did not participate in the Italy-Africa summit.

The Missing Voices

At the 2024 Rome Summit, African Union President Moussa Faki declared: 
"We are not beggars. We want cooperation among equals, not empty 
promises." African civil society, through networks like Don't Gas 
Africa, has denounced exclusion from decision-making processes and the 
continuation of extractive practices, particularly in the energy sector 
(gas and biofuels).

African Arguments openly speaks of "PR-friendly neocolonialism." ISPI 
itself, in an official position paper, recognizes that the Plan is 
currently a vague framework, with little transparency, weak governance, 
and a strong bias toward North Africa. The Sahel is almost absent, and 
West Africa is still marginalized.

Listen to Africa, not just name it

The Mattei Plan is not yet a plan. It is a framework, an ambition, a 
narrative. The risk is that it will remain a geopolitical slogan, useful 
for strengthening Italy's international role and attracting investment, 
but without addressing the roots of inequality and migration. Words are 
not enough.

The invocation of the "will of Rome" betrays an ancient, top-down, 
colonial vision. Building a common future requires overturning the 
pyramid, listening to African voices, making room for forms of 
mutualistic cooperation, and finally recognizing the right of African 
peoples to choose their own path, without guardianship or masters. I 
wouldn't want the relationship between Europe and Africa to resemble 
that between my father-in-law, a laborer, and his friend, an accountant. 
My accountant friend prepared my in-laws' tax returns (two INPS pensions 
and a house) and the ICI/IMU (property tax) payments for the taxes owed 
to the municipality. My father-in-law, in return for the courtesy, 
cleaned the garden of his accountant friend's country house at least 
twice a year, putting in, on average, four days of work each year. One 
hour of work versus 32 hours of work?

Let's put it another way: as long as Africa, in exchange for its raw 
materials, has to purchase our patents and our machinery to extract and 
process them before shipping, there's no point. Internationalism must be 
built on other foundations.

References

ISPI (2024), 'The Mattei Plan: Relaunching Italy's Africa Policy'.

Cerami C. (2024), 'Could the Mattei Plan Succeed Where Other Policies 
Failed?', Roma Tre / Academia.edu.

Encina C.G. (2024), 'Europe, Beyond Its Southern Border', Center for 
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Report to Parliament on the Status of Implementation of the Mattei Plan, 
Presidency of the Council of Ministers, December 2024.

Raffaelli M. (2024), 'Can the Mattei Plan with Africa Succeed?', in 
Formiche.net.

African Arguments, various articles 2023–2024.

Don’t Gas Africa (2023), 'Open Letter to the EU on Extractivism and 
Climate Justice'.

https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
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