When we speak of Italy’s reborn ability to attract foreign investment, of Italy’s reborn international standing, these are by no means ready-made phrases. Everything stems from work that, day after day, has restored credibility to the leaders and institutions of our nation. Yesterday, Microsoft chairman Brad Smith was welcomed at Palazzo Chigi by Giorgia Meloni to discuss the IT giant’s new investments here in Italy.
A radical change, therefore, with respect to the past, something that was needed, or rather urgently needed, after the disasters of recent years: with Prime Ministers who went to Brussels to ask foreign colleagues for advice on the strategy to use to beat their political adversaries at home, announcing behaviour at home that was different from that which they would have adopted on the road so as not to displease their allies, even at the expense of national interests, it was clear that Italy could not enjoy a truly candid image. There was no credibility, our nation was seen as totally corresponding to the stereotypes about it: tardy, lazy, idle and unreliable.
Italy as a school
Taking off these labels was difficult, all the more so in a relatively short period of time. After two years of the Meloni government, things have radically changed and the great of the Earth are looking with interest at Italy, its policies, its models. Such as the one for the defence of borders, copied by now by half of Europe, or the one against ecological drifts, to which even governments that over the years have strongly supported the green transition as it has been declined by the European Commission have begun to open up; the green transition of Frans Timmermans, to give us an idea.
It is an Italy, therefore, that has regained its place in the world, a priority place also confirmed by the increase in exports: there is a great desire for Italy, its products, its quality, and this is an asset that must necessarily be exploited. The meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Brad Smith is confirmation of this: the president of Microsoft has come to Rome to increase, we read in a note from Palazzo Chigi, the ‘data centres needed to support the growing demand for artificial intelligence services’.
A Nation to Believe in and Invest in
“The strengthening of computational capabilities,” it goes on to say, “by leveraging Italian excellence in higher education and research, will contribute to consolidating Italy’s role as a digital hub in the Mediterranean, also in line with the priorities of the Mattei Plan for Africa and the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), a strategic initiative launched in the G7 context. It is therefore clear that this is a broader strategy that sees Italy as a protagonist. Moreover, Palazzo Chigi further states, ‘the meeting, which was part of a series of contacts between President Meloni and exponents of the innovation sector, also allowed for an exchange of views on the prospects for global technological and IT development, with particular reference to the development of artificial intelligence, the opportunities to be seized and the risks to be prevented’.
The note from Palazzo Chigi refers to the three days spent by Giorgia Meloni to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, where the Prime Minister had the opportunity to meet not only Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X, with whom relations – it is now well known – are excellent, since it was he who presented her with the Global Citizen Award presented by the Atlantic Council. Names such as Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google’s holding company, or Greg Brown, head of Motorola, and Sam Altman, head of OpenAI. This too, then, means working for the interests of the nation: opening up to foreign investments, including private ones, and making Italy a country to believe in.
