A Drawing Room Conversation: Italy and the

UK compared

To succeed, you need to work as a team

3/10/2008

A presentation by Giovanni Brauzzi(with the help of Mrs. Carmela Buonomo and Mrs. Paola Ragusa)

Outline• UK & Italy: a comparison

• The influence of History

• Different perceptions of Europe

• The London’s Italian Orchestra

Geography

ItalyItaly UKUK

Area (Sqm) 301,230 244,820

Coastline (Km) 7,600 12,429

Boundaries (km) 1,932.2 360

Demographics

ItalyItaly UKUKPopulation 58,147,733 60,776,238

Population Growth rate 0.01% 0.275%

Migration Migrant(s)/1000 population

2.06 2.17

Life expectancy (in years)

79.94 78.7

Birth Rateborn/1,000 population (2007)

8.54 10.67

Death RateDead/1,000 population (2007)

10.5 10.09

Demographics – Age Structure

ItalyItaly UKUK WorldWorld

0-140-14 13.75% 17.19% 27.37%

15-6415-64 66.36% 66.98% 65.12%

65 and 65 and overover

19.89% 15.83% 7.51%

Economic data

ItalyItaly UKUK

GDP per capita GDP per capita (US$)(US$)

31,000 35,300

GDP real Growth GDP real Growth RateRate

1.9% 2.9%

UnemploymentUnemployment 6.7% 5.4%

Labour forceLabour force 42.75% 50.53%

Economic DataItaly UK

Agriculture /GDP 1.9% 0.9%

Industry/GDP 28.9% 23.4%

Services/GDP 69.2% 75.7%

Agriculture/Labour Force

5% 1.4%

Industry/Labour Force 32% 18.2%

Services/Labour Force 63% 80.4%

TelecommunicationsItalyItaly UKUK

Telephone lines Telephone lines (million)(million)

25 33.5

Mobile phones Mobile phones (million)(million)

71.5 69.7

Radio Stations Radio Stations (AM)(AM) 100 219

Radio Stations Radio Stations (FM)(FM) 4,600 431

ShortwaveShortwave 9 3

Television StationsTelevision Stations 358 228

Internet Users Internet Users (million)(million)

28.9 33.6

Infrastructures

ItalyItaly UKUKRailwaysRailways 19,459 Km 16,567 Km

HighwaysHighways 479,688 Km 387,674 Km

WaterwaysWaterways 2,400 Km 3,200 Km

AirportsAirports 132 449

HeliportsHeliports 5 11

The influence of History

• Londinium• Florentine bankers ruined by the King of

England• The “Grand Tour” • The “Risorgimento”• Different interpretations

Londinium

Florentine bankers ruined by the King of England

The Grand Tour

He was a member of the residential colony who had made Florence their home. He knew the people who never walked about with Baedekers, who had learnt to take a siesta after lunch, who took drives the pension tourists had never heard of, and saw by private influence galleries which were closed to them. Living in delicate seclusion, some in furnished flats, others in Renaissance villas on Fiesole’s slope, they read, wrote, studies, and exchanged ideas, thus attaining to that intimate knowledge, or rather perception, of Florence which is denied to all who carry in their pockets the coupons of Cook”. A Room with a View, by Edward Morgan Forster

Risorgimento

“It is a tribute to the respect with which England and

Palmerston were regarded that the Italians felt that the

British must have been in some way responsible for the

triumphant outcome.”

L. C. B. Seaman, Victorian England

A British negative view on Italy

“If states are to function well they need an overarching sense of a greater whole to which the interest of the individual, the group or the party are ultimately subordinate; at the start of the new millennium, ‘Italy’ appeared still too uncertain and contested an idea to provide the emotional care of a nation – one al least that was in peace with itself and able to face the future with confidence.”

Christopher DugganThe Force of Destiny

A history of Italy since 1796Allen Lowe 2007

Cosmopolitismo come dono dell’Italia al mondo:“L’Italia imparava a occuparsi degli affari del genere umano, dimenticando i suoi”(E.Quinet, Le rivoluzioni d’Italia)

L’essenza del miracolo italiano fu di aver creato ricchezza che non si trasformò in potenza ma si trasfiguròin bellezza….Ogni cultura che si

irradiaconsuma, come una candela, il corpo da cui trae luce.Come ha scritto Fernand Braudel:“Quando cadde sull’Italia la notte, tutta l’Europa ne fu illuminata”.[G.Ruffolo, Quando l’Italia era una

superpotenza]

Abbiamo ancora

un ruolo nel mondo ?

Beati monoculi in terra caecorum

Different perceptions of Europe

• “Graecia capta ferum victorem coepit”• Playing Athens to Rome (London vs

Washington)• Soft Power vs Hard Power • Two different approaches

How best to safeguardNATIONAL INTERESTS

in the presence of:

•Few commodities •Limited energy sources•Aging and shrinking population•No way of keeping gates closed•Cultural and institutional pluralism•Universal vision•Lessons from old and recent past

The Smartest OptionPURSUING NATIONAL INTERESTSTHROUGH MULTILATERAL FORA

THE CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Art. 11 of Italian Constitution: Italy rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the liberties of other people and as a means for settling international controversies; it agrees, on conditions of equality with other States, to such limitations of sovereignty as may be necessary for an international order aimed at ensuring peace and justice among Nations; it promotes and encourages international organizations having such ends in view.

The UK background on Europe

Britain as Europe’s rescuer:“A determination to plan for a future beyond victory has helped to sustain the British spirit throughout the war and has produced the spectacle of a nation with its life in peril nevertheless carrying through domestic reforms of unparalleled magnitude” What Britain has done 1939-1945, issued by the Ministry of Information. 1945.

Britain as a global hub:“If you looked at the post-bag of any English village and examined the letters coming in from abroad, ninety per cent would come from way beyond Europe” Anthony Eden, early Fifties.

“Europe remained a speculative venture, all right for other countries, quite unlikely to come to anything, and, in any case, a project that could never dent the immortal verities that sustained the independent British state” Hugo Young, This Blessed Plot, London 1998.

Different perceptions

Pooling of sovereignty expansion of opportunities

limitation of prerogatives

European seat in the UNSC

expansion of opportunities

limitation of prerogatives

European Charter of Fundamental Rights

expansion of opportunities

limitation of prerogatives

European Court of Justice expansion of opportunities

limitation of prerogatives

ITALYUNITED

KINGDOM

I SENT TO THE CLUB A WIRE STATING: PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.

I The Groucho

Marx Syndrome

The bottomline

• Europe is a common endeavour but still based on competition among Nations

• If you want to succeed, you should act as a team

The Italian community in the U.K..

166.853 Italian 166.853 Italian citizenscitizens

• 129.271 London129.271 London• 27.441 Manchester27.441 Manchester• 10.141 Edinburgh 10.141 Edinburgh

¼ ¼ of them double citizensof them double citizens

The Italian Immigration to the U.K.

The way we wereThe way we wereUntil the ’60s the Until the ’60s the

Italian immigrants Italian immigrants worked in:worked in:

• IndustryIndustry• Food sectorFood sector• Construction Construction

worksworks• RailwaysRailways

The way we are

Type of employment of Italian immigrants in the U.K.

Professionals

Workers

Employees

Pensioners

Dependingfamily members

Unemployed

25%

1,7%

20%

8%

15%30%

Who we areWorking in Business and Finance Working in Business and Finance Sectors, Insurances, Services Industry, Sectors, Insurances, Services Industry, Research, and also… Food Industry!Research, and also… Food Industry!

Italy-U.K.Italy-U.K. How we flewHow we flew

Italy-U.K.Italy-U.K.How we flyHow we fly

942 weekly 942 weekly flights!flights!

Commercial Exchange Italy-U.K.Commercial Exchange Italy-U.K.

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

1st Sem.2005

2nd Sem.2005

1st Sem.2006

2nd Sem.2006

1st Sem.2007

2nd Sem.2007

1st Sem.2008

Italian Exports to the U.K. Italian Imports from the U.K.

Trade Balance for Italy

Diplomatic-Consular Networks of

the Ministries of Foreign Affairs

A comparison in Europe (year 2007)

Diplomatic/Diplomatic/consularconsular

networknetwork

StaffStaff BudgetBudget

ITALYITALY 333333 8.6048.604 1.8131.813

FRANCEFRANCE 428428 16.72116.721 2.3522.352

GERMANYGERMANY 357357 12.41812.418 2.8592.859

UNITED UNITED KINGDOMKINGDOM

467467 17.00017.000 2.4422.442

Punching above Punching above its weightits weight

Le nozze con i Le nozze con i fichi secchifichi secchi

A Challenge

The The answer answer is… is…

… … OUTREACH OUTREACH and and

NETWORKING!NETWORKING!

Italian Embassy

London’s “Italian Orchestra”

Embassy of Italy

Consulates

Italian Cultural Institutes

Italian Chamber of Commerce

ENITItalian Trade Commission

Scientific Attaché

Defence Attaché

Bankitalia

Italian Ambassador

Would you like to join the choir ?