Italy: In the Mediterranean, but of it?

While Italy is inescapably a Mediterranean country, the southern Mediterranean is not where its current interests lie. There was much more Italian emphasis upon Mediterranean initiatives following the Cold War, until the departure from the scene of former foreign minister Gianni De Michelis in 1992. Today, Italy's ambitions are eminently European and its concerns relate more to situations to the east than to the south. None the less, one can still speak of an Italian Mediterranean policy, albeit one developed chiefly through the European Union, and to a limited extent NATO. Large‐scale imports of natural gas from Algeria and concerns about recent and future human migration help maintain Italy's interest in the Mediterranean.