Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg meet in Rome to Discuss Ukraine, Defence Spending and Mediterranean Security

On 8 May 2024, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Italy. Their discussion mainly focused on what will be at the heart of the upcoming NATO Summit, taking place in July in Washington, with the war in Ukraine leading the conversation (ANSA, 2024a). The Secretary General reiterated that sending boots on the ground to Ukraine is currently not an option for NATO, nor something that the Ukrainians have asked (ANSA 2024b). Instead, what Ukrainians are in desperate need of is additional military aid, especially in light of the recent territorial advance by the Russian army in the northeastern region of Kharkiv (Dettmer, 2024).

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The Iuventa Case and the Criminalisation of Sea Rescue Operations

In the past years, the Mediterranean Sea has become a theatre of both tragedy and lifesaving efforts, as the ongoing migration crisis has prompted a surge in sea rescue operations. Amidst this complex landscape, the Iuventa case stands out as a pivotal case study, representing the challenges faced by humanitarian NGOs engaged in saving lives at sea. This paper explores the legal framework governing sea rescue operations and analyses the legal intricacies and landmark decision of the Iuventa trial before the Italian Court.

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France and Italy take major step to Reach Interoperability of European Land Industries

On 29 April 2024, the Italian Minister of Defence Guido Crosetto and his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu met at the military camp Raffalli in Calvi, Corsica, to sign a Letter of Intent boosting military cooperation between their respective land forces. The two Ministers signed the Letter as part of their commitment to enhance Europe’s defence posture by integrating industrial bases. This partnership allows French and Italian defence companies to share their financial, personnel and technological expertise and build more competitive industrial centres in the domain of Land Forces. By harmonising their standards, equipment, procedures and training protocols during joint operations and missions, the two countries will enhance the effectiveness of Europe’s ground defence capabilities (Ministère des Armées, 2024).

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Italy’s New Defence Plan: Nuclear Readiness Exercises, New German Tanks and Billions in Expenditures

The commitment of Prime Minister Meloni to military spending became tangible after the Defence Ministry released, with an unusual delay of six months, its budget projections for 2023-2025. Integrated expenditures for defence are set to reach an all-time high of €31.4 billion in 2025, a €2 billion increase from 2022. Italian expenses for procurement are expected to rise by 43% in the next two years, with €4.6 billion allocated to thirteen new military programmes.

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Italy Might Join the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) Initiative

On 24 August, La Tribune reported that France and Italy agreed on proposing to Germany Rome’s inclusion, represented by Leonardo, a prominent Italian defence company, in the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) programme (Cabirol, 2023). The MGCS aims to develop a future land warfare system that includes a Main Battle Tank (MBT) around 2040 (Oestergaard, 2021). This news was unsurprising since Italian participation had already been envisaged (Valpolini, 2020; Arivella & Moran, 2022). Until now, Paris has opposed the inclusion of other states. However, this move reflects an effort to restore balance in the initiative’s power dynamics, taking advantage of the fruitful history of Franco-Italian defence industrial cooperation (Defence Industry Europe, 2023; Meta Défense, 2023).

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