In the Balkans, Italy and FVG must work synergistically

(ANSA) - UDINE, 09 FEB - Italy, to carve out a significant space from an economic and entrepreneurial point of view In the crucial area of the Western Balkans, must increasingly network and act as a "system," avoiding being crushed by competitors that are becoming systemic, such as Russia and China.
    Therefore, the Italian and FVG companies interested in this area must be supported above all in terms of business and investment security, given the ongoing geopolitical changes.
    This message was launched at the meeting aimed particularly at entrepreneurs from the Northeast, held in Udine in the Pordenone-Udine Chamber of Commerce, organized by the Atlantic Club of Triveneto, an affiliate of the National Atlantic Committee, to explore the impact of the new geopolitical dynamics on the Balkans.
    Keynote speakers were Marco Ferruzzi Balbi, president of the Triveneto Atlantic Club; Fabrizio Luciolli, president of the Italian Atlantic Committee and senior advisor to the Ministry of Defense; and Arduino Paniccia, president of the Venice School of Economic Warfare and International Competition. Several entrepreneurs from the northeastern area were in the audience.
    "The Balkans are a meeting point where instability arrives from different directions, fueled by strong interests of systemic competitors such as Russia and China - said Luciolli -, and recently also Turkey, which, not respecting EU rules for workers' rights, civil and democratic freedoms, manage to gain economic advantages by making alliances with some local leaders.
    This is what happened in Serbia and will probably happen in North Macedonia on May 24, and this also risks slowing down or setting back that process of European integration of those same countries." Italy, according to Luciolli, "is at the heart of this dynamic and has an important interest in the Western Balkans being stable." The EU, too, the expert said, "has rekindled its attention to the area and was recently in both Skopje and Sarajevo to revive the prospect of a membership bid for these countries and create a regional market that can then integrate with the European one." A process financed with substantial funds, he remarked, because we are talking about 6 billion to be disbursed globally, 2 billion of which are available in the immediate term.
    The president of the Triveneto Atlantic Club, Marco Ferruzzi Balbi, was the one who outlined the goals of the nonprofit association, the first of which is to support businesses on security. "If I want to open a plant in Belgrade, I have to make a security plan according to our standards," he explained, "and I'm talking about safety, but also cybersecurity for data and guarantees for business. We can do for a business a country risk assessment document by people who are experts there, and that is a big advantage." Arduino Paniccia underlined that "a new strategy is needed for the Balkan area, first and foremost a European one, and certainly, the EU and NATO remain defensive pillars, but to counter the economic advance of the pro-Russian and pro-Chinese component, we must create, starting from the central role of Udine, FVG and the Northeast, a strategy based upon concrete synergies between entrepreneurs. However, to face an economic war that will continue with no holds barred, we need to rediscover some keywords: rationality, alliances, realpolitik, strategic arrangement." (ANSA).