News Analysis: Italy helps shift European focus towards growth, but its EU presidency leaves something to be desired

Italy's European Union (EU) presidency gave a key contribution in shifting Europe's policy focus from austerity to growth, but it did not provide a strong plan to drive forward the EU's work as might have been expected, according to one analyst.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi gave his closing speech at the EU parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, summing up the results achieved while his country was chairing the EU Council in the second half of 2014.

The ceremony marked the formal handover of the six-month mandate to Latvia, which officially started on Jan. 1.

It also gave Renzi an opportunity to declare that "Italy's EU presidency pushed for a change in the economic paradigm that has dominated the European debate in the latest years."

In his closing address, the Italian premier stated that only a shift from austerity to growth and flexibility would help Europe face the global competition, and Italy gave a consistent contribution on this path.

This result was indeed acknowledged by many Italian analysts.

Yet, as major Italian newspapers paid close attention to Renzi's speech and made their own evaluation of the government's six-month work at the helm of the EU, there was both positive and negative perspectives which emerged from the analysis.

"The Italian presidency surely helped to change the 'vocabulary' of the EU, and this was not a trivial matter," Fabio Martini, political analyst with Turin-based La Stampa newspaper, told Xinhua.

"The need of an investment plan to boost economy is now a recognized issue in the EU, and this was due also to the pressure exerted by the Italian government," he acknowledged.

However, as much as Italy campaigned to achieve this good result, its presidency lacked strong and comprehensive planning, the analyst said.

"If I had to point out a weakness in this presidency, I would say Italy has not supported its strong campaign for growth with an equal strong project. It did not contribute any comprehensive idea to turn this goal into something more solid," Martini explained.

In December, new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presented a 315-billion-euro (372 billion U.S. dollars) program to boost private investments and growth, which was endorsed by EU leaders.

Italy welcomed the plan, but pointed out the package's resources were limited and pushed for these investments to be kept out of national balance sheets so as not to increase national deficits.

"Yet, the Italian EU presidency did not submit any alternative plan to find a better solution on this issue or give more strength to the Juncker's plan," Martini said.

Taking over the EU rotating presidency always sparks expectations in the public opinion of a country, although the responsibility and power of this role have been greatly downsized in recent years.

However, Martini noted the Italian presidency was marked by a special event: the landslide victory of Renzi's center-left Democratic Party (PD) in the European parliamentary election in May 2014.

In a vote heavily influenced by euroscepticism, the pro-European PD still ended up as the most popular party in Europe with nearly 41 percent at the national level, the analyst recalled.

"The result was very gratifying for Renzi, and gave rise to particularly high expectations when his government took over the EU presidency on July 1, 2014," Martini said.

"However, Renzi saw fit to use this acknowledgment mainly in a campaign to get Italy a leading role in European foreign policy, and Italy's efforts during the EU presidency have focused on this."

The goal was achieved when Italy's Federica Mogherini was appointed as the new EU foreign policy chief in August, but it might not have helped the country bolster its image among partners, according to the La Stampa analyst.

"Many EU leaders, especially in France and Germany, showed an appreciation of Matteo Renzi, his appeal and his ability to win over the public opinion in a relatively short time. This appreciation has not decreased, it seems, but neither has it escalated during Italy's EU semester," he noted.

Italy's traditional pro-European stance is not an issue, and its knowledge of EU mechanisms is vast, having held 11 presidencies in the history of European integration.

Whether these past six months were enough for Italy to reach a new leadership role in Europe, as Renzi had vowed to regain, seemed, however, still uncertain.

"Considering the perspective of Brussels, and even the point of view of Italian officials there, this Italian presidency appeared greatly influenced by domestic issues and concerns," Martini concluded. Endit