The move is already being hailed by western nations as of the highest strategic importance.
It means that the only member of the G7 group of nations which was part of the BRI is disconnecting from what is arguably one of the signature economic initiatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It also means that the People’s Republic of China is losing some access to the third-largest economy in Europe.
The decision to exit that economic alliance rested on a campaign promise by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni when she ran for prime minister in 2022.
When she won the election for prime minister in September 2022, Meloni promised radical change from the previous left-wing regime of Mario Draghi, who served in the same position as of February 2021. Meloni’s political heritage including a major role in the formation in 2012 of the Brothers of Italy, a successor to the Italian Social Movement (MSI), which itself drew its roots from World War II leader Benito Mussolini’s Italian Fascist Party. She has led that party since 2014.
In campaign speeches prior to taking office, she said she would stand for the traditional right-wing values of country-first and all else second, as well as tightening what used to be easy access for migrants to enter and settle in Italy. She also hinted at taking a more Italy-centric protective approach when it came to continuing the high rate of financial support the European Union sends to Ukraine.
Georgia Meloni also promised to leave China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which she criticized as being a means for financial manipulation of partner countries. She called out the PRC for having used the BRI for the principal benefit of Beijing. She further attacked China for having intentionally overleveraged already financially-strapped countries, so they ended up having to give up control of key ports, highways, railroads, and other infrastructure that China helped build, as part of its “debt trap” strategies worldwide.
Italy signed a memorandum authorizing Italy’s engagement in the Belt and Road Initiative in March 2019, under previous Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. That memorandum is effective for a period of four years. It will automatically renew on March 2024 and can be cancelled with three months’ advance notice.
Meloni sent her cancellation announcement on December 3, with the news of that only becoming public this week.
It is said that Meloni cancelled only under considerable pressure from the United States and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.
The European Union’s push to get Italy out from the BRI came from a general desire to keep China distant from any linkages to major countries within its bloc, as well as to provide stronger support for Von der Leyen’s Global Gateway counter-initiative to the BRI.
Meloni reportedly slowed her response to avoid causing too much anger from China, since she believes Italy still needs strong economic ties with Beijing to support her plans for economic recovery.
While Italy leaving the BRI is important, it is probably more so as a symbolic gesture than as anything more. It will not mean, for example, that Italy will be throwing any sizable financial support for the Global Gateway project, given that Meloni is far more focused on her own country’s success than that of the EU.
Italy has also not been part of the BRI for very long.
It also doesn’t mean China loses much in terms of access to the EU as part of its drive to link China to the rest of the world’s global infrastructure, by air, sea, and land. Even without Italy, China can count over half the EU’s member states as signees of the BRI memorandum, with others still in negotiations, it appears. The current list of EU states signed up includes Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.