The Chamber of Deputies has approved the Mattei Plan, with which the government aims to collaborate with Africa. The funds have been allocated, but what to do with them has yet to be determined.
The Mattei Plan is now law. During the sitting of 10 January 2024, the Chamber of Deputies approved the bill converting decree-law no. 161/2023, "containing urgent provisions for the Mattei Plan for development in states of the African continent".
The first time, the Mattei Plan – named after the founder of Eni, Enrico Mattei – was mentioned during the inaugural address to the Chamber of Deputies by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, on 22 October 2022. The Plan had been announced as the government's most important programmatic point, capable of "removing the causes that lead migrants to abandon their land, their cultural roots, their family in search of a better life in Europe" – a "virtuous model of collaboration and growth between the European Union and African nations, also to counter the worrying spread of Islamic radicalism, especially in the sub-Saharan area".
At the press conference following the Council of Ministers, Meloni stated that the Mattei Plan "is perhaps the most significant strategic project of this government at a geopolitical level, of an Italy that wants to return to a leading role in the Mediterranean". The idea of Italy as a Mediterranean hub is a concept dear to the entire government (the latest to invoke it, in terms of public appearances, is Environment Minister Pichetto Fratin, who has said that Italy is ready to become the Mediterranean hub for critical minerals). In short, the Plan has many facets, all stemming from its role in "stopping departures", to use the "Melonian" lexicon once more, but touching on various interests, including energy (Italy as a Mediterranean gas hub, as the Prime Minister was saying at the start of 2023).
For the moment, therefore, there are no particular concrete developments. As highlighted by the government in the report attached to the conversion bill, the Plan, which runs for four years, "pursues the building of a new partnership between Italy and states of the African continent", through "the promotion of common, sustainable and lasting development, across the political, economic, social, cultural and security dimensions".
The Chamber's press release contains a long list of different areas covered by this collaboration, but no concrete plan for any of them. "Partnership actions will be implemented – it reads – in the following sectors: development cooperation; promotion of exports and investment; education, higher education and vocational training; research and innovation; health, agriculture and food security; procurement and sustainable exploitation of natural resources, including water and energy resources; environmental protection and adaptation to climate change; modernisation and strengthening of infrastructure, including digital infrastructure; promotion and development of energy partnership, including in the area of renewable sources; support for entrepreneurship, in particular youth and female entrepreneurship; promotion of employment; tourism, culture, prevention and countering of irregular immigration and management of legal migration flows".
Given the numerous areas of intervention, the steering committee is managed by the Prime Minister together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, joined by the state-owned companies Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Sace and Simest (all publicly held joint-stock companies), and by "representatives of publicly held companies, universities, civil society and the third sector, public and private bodies".
"For the Mattei Plan to launch a new phase in the Italian-African relationship and to represent an initiative guided by a sustainable, long-term vision, it is necessary to move beyond energy narratives tied to traditional concepts of energy security and the role of hydrocarbons", writes analyst Lorena Stella Martini of the think tank Ecco. "Solutions that have been factually disproved, and that contradict genuinely inclusive and sustainable growth for Africa and alignment with climate objectives".
Stella Martini is clear on the matter: new gas exploration and new gas production must be avoided, focusing instead on decarbonisation policies, revising public finance incentives and bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms to unlock the high potential in the area of renewable energy. In short, the government should encourage the development of further economic sectors alternative to fossil fuels "that can foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth for African countries and their populations", adds the Ecco analyst, and can "contribute to African countries developing their potential in the area of critical raw materials".
This is what the government has put out. But what will happen in practice? While waiting for the details, the opposition is critical and speaks of an "empty box", of "hot air and propaganda". We will have to wait until 30 June to learn about the activities and projects funded by the Mattei Plan. Indeed, it is by that date that the steering committee must, as instructed by the decree-law and with effect from 1 December 2023, transmit to the Chamber a report on the state of implementation of the Plan itself. At present there are a number of events that fall within the Plan's activities, such as the Italy-Africa conference called for 28 and 29 January, with the Senate chamber as a possible venue.
In short, the information available on this front is still rather scant: the only thing that seems clear is that the Mattei Plan will be a container for many small local projects. For the moment we know its cost: the allocated expenditure amounts to 235,077 euros for 2023 and 2.8 million euros per year from 2024 onwards.