The Relations between Rome and Bonn during the First Brandt Government between Ostpolitik and Csce

Based on Italian and German archival and published documentary sources, the article analyses the Italian views on Ostpolitik and the positions of both countries on the not yet opened Csce as discussed in bilateral meetings between Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers. The author points out the Italian fears caused especially by the speed of the first Ostpolitik negotiations and later by the slowness of the Berlin negotiations that delayed the beginning of the Multilateral Preparatory Talks on the Csce. Firstly Rome was worried that the Germans’ eagerness to reach some goals in their national question, combined with Moscow’s dangerous European policy, could lead to excessive concessions from Bonn, eventually damaging western interests. Later on Italy was concerned that waiting for the conclusion of the Berlin Agreement, which had been established by the West as a precondition for the opening of the multilateral preparation of the Csce, could imply a loss of momentum for the Western countries in order to take the lead in the détente process and fight against eastern goals and propaganda. On the contrary, Bonn wanted to take advantage of the eastern hurry to begin with the Csce in opposition to the western disposition to take their time, in order to obtain the best results in the Ostpolitik and the best guarantees on the Csce.

Keywords: Ostpolitik, Csce (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe), détente, Italy-RFG relations, foreign policy Italy, foreign policy RFG

Francesca Zilio, Le relazioni fra Roma e Bonn durante il primo governo Brandt fra Ostpolitik e Csce in "MONDO CONTEMPORANEO" 2/2012, pp 5-34, DOI: 10.3280/MON2012-002001