Rome

- Relations between Italy and the UAE are witnessing diplomatic tension, the latest of which was when the Emirati authorities asked their Italian counterparts to leave the Al-Minhad military air base in Dubai by the second of next July, but what happened between Rome and Abu Dhabi to the extent that Caused "warming" in military cooperation.

Before the end of 2020, diplomatic relations began to descend into a gradual tension between Rome and Abu Dhabi, since the Italian government canceled permits to export arms to the UAE, in line with Law No. 185 of 1999, which stipulates the prohibition of selling arms to countries that violate human rights, which is the first time that This law operates in Italy.

This ban was approved after the Italian Parliament approved the decision last December, and the decision came after pressure from international human rights organizations, led by Amnesty International and Oxfam.

"In my view, respect for human rights is an uncompromising commitment," Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said at the time in a statement.

The decision to ban the sale of arms was made during the era of the second government of Giuseppe Conte, which was led by the "Five Star Movement", and the current Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has maintained Di Maio in his government, and he is one of the most prominent leaders of the populist movement that was dissatisfied with the rapprochement between the Emirates and retired Libyan general Khalifa Haftar and Egypt, as Rome showed a clear rapprochement with the political forces in Tripoli, represented by the internationally recognized Government of National Accord.

Draghi government

However, the current government led by Draghi appears to be heterogeneous at the level of external alliances in dealing with the Libyan file, and this has extended to the issue of arms sales to the UAE and military cooperation with it, which is evident in a Facebook video recently published by Matteo Perego de Cremenago, Vice President of the Forza party group. Italy, a participant in the government majority.

De Cremenago blamed Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio for the collapse of diplomatic and military relations between the UAE and Italy, and considered him "politically responsible for Italy's decision to impose an arms embargo on Abu Dhabi."

Matteo Perego de Cremenago, in a post on his Facebook page, criticized the decision of Foreign Minister Di Maio to ban arms exports to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and said that the value of Italian military investments in the two Gulf countries is estimated at $58 billion, and the Italian politician added that the French were "kidnapping this opportunity."

Youssef Tawfik, a political analyst and university professor at the University of Genoa, believes that "Italy's foreign policy today suffers from a clear confusion because it is related to the incompatibility between the parties that make up the fragile ruling coalition. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by an important member of the Five Star Movement, looks at the policy of the UAE and Saudi Arabia from the point of view of the influence of An external link with internationally influential countries and groups, especially those that have a direct impact on human rights associations and organizations, and civil society in the Italian interior.

prevent crossing

At the end of the first week of June, Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini was heading to Afghanistan, on a Boeing 767, to salute his country's forces on the occasion of the start of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghan territory, but the UAE refused to allow the Italian plane to pass over its field. aerial.

The Italian authorities did not accept the Emirati decision, so the Secretary-General of the Italian Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Ettore Secchi - upon instructions from the Minister of Foreign Affairs - summoned the Emirati ambassador in Rome, Omar Al Shamsi, to express “his surprise and great disappointment at the unexpected refusal, which is difficult to understand,” according to a statement. Italian Foreign.

Italy and the United Arab Emirates link a strategic partnership, especially in the economic field, according to what the political economic researcher at the University of Turin Mohamed Kamal mentioned, in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, according to the statistics of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the volume of trade exchange between the two countries is about $8.4 billion in 2020, and is classified as Italy is the first European trading partner and the eighth globally for the UAE.

Regarding exports, in 2020 Italy moved from 11th to 9th place among the largest importing countries to the UAE, and occupies the second place among the member states of the European Union after Germany. Researcher Mohamed Kamal says that nearly 600 Italian companies are present in various sectors in the UAE market, particularly in the fields of construction, energy, consumer goods, security and defense, banking, insurance and aerospace.