Will This Franco-Italian Bromance Save Europe?
Macron and Draghi try to move EU integration forward with a friendship treaty. But there are obstacles ahead.
Macron and Draghi in Rome on Nov. 25.
Photographer: Roberto Monaldo/LaPresseEmmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi signed a treaty on Friday at the Quirinale palace in Rome to get France and Italy working together better. That’s good news for Europe. It’s also tinder for populists. How their countries — both founding members of the European Union — pull off cooperation will determine how much nearer the continent’s dream of “ever closer union” gets to reality.
France and Italy share a border and coasts on the Mediterranean and have interlocking histories on both sides of that sea. Their culture and style are admired abroad even as their citizens register a sense of decline at home.