Facing fiscal and political constraints, Italy is seeking to embed its Mattei Plan within broader EU and multilateral frameworks to secure greater financial and political backing and punch above its weight in advancing energy diversification and migration management goals in Africa. But structural limitations will likely constrain Rome's ability to expand its influence on the continent beyond a narrow set of strategic interests. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will co-chair a high-level summit in Rome on June 20, bringing together leaders from several African countries and key multilateral financial institutions to advance Italy's strategic development initiative for Africa, known as the Mattei Plan for Africa, and align it with the European Union's Global Gateway strategy, the bloc's flagship infrastructure and connectivity investment framework. Discussions will center on shared priorities, such as advancing sustainable infrastructure, energy cooperation, digital and physical connectivity, vocational training and boosting climate-resilient agriculture in Europe. In particular, the summit will bring together several African states involved in the Lobito Corridor — a strategic railway project that will link the southern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo and northwestern Zambia to regional trade markets — with multilateral financial institutions, representatives from EU institutions and international lenders.

• Launched in December 2021, the European Union's Global Gateway is a 300-billion-euro infrastructure and development initiative that is largely aimed at providing a European alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative to developing countries. Of this, 150 billion euros are earmarked for Africa. The initiative seeks to boost connectivity, energy transition, health systems and education while emphasizing democratic values, sustainability and local ownership. 
• Meloni unveiled the Mattei Plan during her inaugural address in October 2022, presenting it as an innovative vision to reshape Italy's relationship with African countries and expand its presence and influence across Africa and the broader Mediterranean through bilateral energy partnerships grounded in a "non-predatory but collaborative posture." Officially launched in 2024 with an initial allocation of 5.5 billion euros, the plan is structured along six priority axes: education and training, agriculture, health, energy, water and physical and digital infrastructure. To date, 22 pilot projects are operational across nine countries: Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A second phase was launched in May 2025, expanding the plan to Angola, Ghana, Mauritania, Tanzania and Senegal.
• The Lobito Corridor will enable the annual transport of over 2 million tonnes of goods and cut transit times by 56%, from 16 to just 7 days. The project involves the construction of 800 kilometers of new railway lines between the Angolan city of Luacano and the Zambian city of Chingola, significantly improving logistics for the transport of minerals and agricultural products by lowering costs, reducing transit times and minimizing climate impact. It is backed by a multilateral investment package worth over 9 billion euros, provided by the United States, the European Union, the African Development Bank, private consortia and Italy through Rome's Mattei Plan.

With the Mattei Plan, Italy wants to leverage its geographic position to exploit opportunities in Africa created by the retreat of other Western powers, address security and migration challenges, and elevate Rome's influence within the European Union. Because of Italy's geographic location in southern Europe, regional stability and influence in North Africa are central to Rome's foreign and security policy. Security imperatives — ranging from counterterrorism and anti-smuggling efforts to regional stabilization — are deeply embedded in the Mattei Plan's design. Chief among these is migration, a politically central issue in Italy. Domestically, the plan seeks to present a solution to the issue of migration from Africa by addressing its root causes through economic development in countries of origin, while simultaneously managing departures through bilateral migration control agreements with key transit states like Tunisia and Libya. Beyond immediate political and security concerns, the Mattei Plan also seeks to leverage Italy's geographic position as a natural bridge between Europe and Africa to argue for a greater leadership role in the region and in shaping EU Africa policy and engagement. Italy's proximity to Africa is thus framed not only as a vulnerability, requiring Italian engagement to contain regional instability, but also as a strategic asset that legitimizes deeper influence. Rome seeks to find commercial opportunities created by the security and diplomatic vacuum left by France's recent expulsion from several countries in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa and the retreat of other Western donors, like the United States and the United Kingdom, whose aid footprints have receded in recent years amid shifting spending and foreign policy priorities. Italy's small but sustained presence through military missions, robust diplomatic outreach and regional migration frameworks like the Rome Process enable it to present itself as a pragmatic partner to African governments.

• Italy is the only Western power with a small but active military presence in Niger following the July 2023 coup that deposed President Mohamed Bazoum. This presence consists of about 250 troops engaged in training and supporting local authorities in fighting terrorism, human trafficking and organized crime. Niger's junta expelled French and U.S. troops, which completed their withdrawals by late 2023 and September 2024, respectively. Italy, however, has continued its bilateral support mission, initiated in 2018 and focusing on border surveillance and migration management. 
• Launched in 2017 and revived under the Meloni government, the Rome Process is Italy's diplomatic framework aimed at managing migration flows from Africa and into Europe along the Central Mediterranean route by deepening cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination to address structural drivers of migration, strengthen border controls, curb human trafficking and promote legal migration channels. 

Italy's urgent need to diversify energy supplies and expand export markets — intensified by the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and an increasingly volatile global geopolitical landscape — provides the economic impetus for the Mattei Plan. Africa's energy resources also represent a central element in the economic rationale behind Italy's Mattei Plan. Italy depends on imports for almost 80% of its energy needs, making a diversified and reliable supply strategically crucial — particularly in light of the volatility in global energy markets that emerged following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, subsequent Western sanctions and Europe's longer-term goal of decoupling away from Russian energy, as well as intensifying Chinese competition for liquified natural gas (LNG). Through the Mattei Plan, Rome is pursuing deeper energy ties in Africa to secure greater access to oil, gas and renewables by leveraging Italian energy giant ENI's established and extensive commercial presence across the continent while presenting a different narrative. The plan promotes a partnership-based model, seeking to present Italy as a politically neutral and less intrusive actor that respects local sovereignty and ensures a greater share of resources benefits local markets. Crucially, the Mattei Plan also seeks to integrate energy cooperation with broader development initiatives in transport, agriculture, education and health, portraying Italy not merely as a buyer of energy resources but as a long-term development partner. Moreover, by deepening economic ties in Africa and supporting local development, Rome aims to support and capitalize on the continent's demographic growth and rising infrastructure demand to create new markets for Italian companies, particularly those operating in strategic sectors. 

• Italy is prioritizing energy diversification to replace Russian gas — which, before the Ukraine war, accounted for roughly 40% of its supply — by exploring a long-term return to nuclear power and, in the short term, securing new deals in North Africa. In April 2025, ENI announced 24 billion euros in planned investments across Algeria, Libya and Egypt. The Italian oil and gas giant has also expanded LNG capacity in Congo and Mozambique, and is pursuing projects in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. Beyond its own energy security, Italy is additionally seeking to become a European "energy hub," leveraging its geography and infrastructure to channel African energy northward. The European Union's RepowerEU strategy to end all Russian energy imports by 2027 has made Brussels more willing to support alternative suppliers, which has, in turn, bolstered Italy's efforts to secure financing and political backing, expand its African energy footprint and position itself as a strategic corridor in Europe's post-Russia energy landscape.
• Though many of these projects predate or fall outside the Mattei Plan, the initiative increasingly serves as an umbrella framework under which development and infrastructure efforts are aligned with Italy's broader strategic goals. Several of the plan's development-focused initiatives are designed to accompany or complement energy deals in recipient countries, while certain infrastructure projects — benefiting both local markets and European markets — fall squarely within its scope. These projects include the South H2 Corridor, a planned 3,300-kilometer-long hydrogen pipeline linking North Africa to Italy, Austria and Germany; the 600-megawatt, 220-kilometer-long ELMED submarine power line between Italy and Tunisia; and a biofuel initiative in Kenya involving 400,000 farmers by 2027, where ENI is investing over 200 million euros in agri-feedstock production. While these projects were initially developed by the Italian government or state-backed firms, they have since been incorporated into the Mattei Plan portfolio. 

Italy is seeking to "internationalize" its Mattei Plan by aligning it with the European Union's Global Gateway initiative and engaging multilateral development actors like the African Development Bank and the World Bank to amplify its credibility, funding leverage and political legitimacy. Italy's high public debt (over 140% of GDP) and persistent budget deficits constrain government spending and limit its ability to finance large-scale foreign initiatives like the Mattei Plan without external support, making co-financing essential. Anchoring the plan to the European Union's Global Gateway and other multilateral frameworks grants Rome access to a far larger pool of technical and capital resources (such as those available through the European Investment Bank or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), allowing for more ambitious, better-funded and professionally supported projects across Africa. This approach also serves an important de-risking function by embedding Italy's initiatives within broader institutional umbrellas, which enhances project visibility and reduces political and financial risk exposure for Italian firms operating in politically or commercially sensitive environments. Additionally, international backing lends greater legitimacy to Rome's renewed engagement in sensitive African regions, mitigating potential political pushback domestically and abroad by embedding these efforts within a coordinated EU strategy. More broadly, the June 20 Mattei Plan-Global Gateway summit marks an important step in shaping Europe's evolving Africa strategy, with Italy positioning itself as a central conduit for investment, diplomacy and migration management. A successful alignment could consolidate Rome's influence in EU policymaking, attract additional funding for Italian-led ventures in Africa, and help present a unified Western counterweight to China's Belt and Road Initiative and Russia's bilateral military engagements on the continent. 

Despite its ambitions, Italy's Mattei Plan faces significant structural constraints that will limit its transformative potential across Africa, ultimately serving as a vehicle for Rome's core, narrower goals of securing energy and migration control deals more than a framework for long-term Italian influence on the continent. Italy's high public debt and limited fiscal space constrain Rome's ability to independently fund large-scale projects, increasing reliance on external actors whose priorities may diverge. Embedding the initiative within the European Union's Global Gateway strategy may amplify its visibility and funding access, but EU programs often remain slow-moving, under-resourced relative to ambition and hampered by internal fragmentation, making it uncertain whether Italy will be able to secure the scale of financing and institutional backing it seeks over the medium term. Moreover, while Italy is expanding its diplomatic outreach and development footprint in Africa, it still lacks the experience, diplomatic clout, economic resources and military capacity to sustain a broad and durable presence or to assert leadership over EU-wide Africa policy and engagement. Rome's top-down approach — focused on elite partnerships and pragmatic ties with non-democratic regimes, including military juntas such as in Niger — may yield short-term gains, particularly in ENI-led energy deals. However, reliance on fragile African regimes also carries reputational and political risks. Should these regimes collapse or pivot further toward Russia, the strategic openings for Rome may evaporate, undercutting diplomatic access and weakening its leverage. Meanwhile, rising instability and security threats to Italian personnel and facilities would heighten domestic pressure to scale back or reassess engagement in high-risk environments like the Sahel. Eventually, Italy may be confronted with the same structural and political challenges that drove France and the United States, forcing Rome to rethink its strategy. Ultimately, the Mattei Plan will primarily serve as a framework for Italy's main objectives in Africa: securing energy diversification and managing migration. But while these objectives remain well within reach, their realization is unlikely to amount to a deeper or more influential role for Italy in shaping Africa's broader development trajectory.

• The most visible outcomes under the Mattei Plan will stem from ENI's ongoing efforts to deepen its footprint in North and Sub-Saharan Africa through various energy projects, mostly in oil and gas but also in renewables. However, broader Italian economic engagement — especially trade and investments from small and medium-sized enterprises — will likely lag due to persistent risk perceptions, regulatory hurdles and Italian firms' limited familiarity with African markets. Despite the Mattei Plan's 5.5 billion euro financing package, most Italian activity on the continent will thus likely remain focused on a narrow set of high-profile energy and infrastructure projects, limiting the plan's broader developmental impact.
• Although initiatives like vocational training and job creation may help mitigate short-term factors pushing Africans to migrate to Europe, the Mattei Plan is unlikely to meaningfully affect structural drivers of migration from Africa, which is rooted in broader demographic and economic forces. Nevertheless, by framing the initiative as a way to address the root causes of migration — rather than merely containing flows — Meloni's government can present a more holistic response to the issue, pairing migration management with development cooperation to strengthen Rome's domestic and international narrative around efforts to fight illegal migration. 
• Italy's top-down, state-centric approach to engagement with Africa could backfire if local populations view it as self-serving or misaligned with their priorities. Without closer alignment with African Union objectives and genuine co-ownership, the Mattei Plan's "non-predatory" narrative may be dismissed as a mere marketing exercise and rebranding of Italian national interests, particularly in light of Italy's unresolved colonial legacy, undermining Rome's credibility as a long-term development partner.