I am really glad to be here with you again, because I think this is the third time I open the Annual Conference of the [European Defence] Agency; and, to do this, this year, in probably the most important moment for European defence in decades.

Two core issues in the campaign that will lead us to the European election in 2019 will probably be the EU budget and the introduction of additional “own resources” for the Eurozone.

The electoral and political decline of European social-democracies in recent decades, in the context of the global economic and financial crisis that began in 2008 and of the globalization process, is now a recognized empirical evidence.

America first. Russia first. China first.

The United States of America puts American interests first. Just as every other nation in the world puts its own interests first. President Donald Trump was right about that in his first speech before the United Nations, on Sept. 19.

1. Globalization is the new “mode of production”

Globalization is a very complex phenomenon. We could not understand it and evaluate the extent of its consequences without resorting to Marx’s concept of mode of production, which even the most pragmatic economists use without even mentioning it.

This summer a consensus was reached on a mix of policies that can effectively address the emergencies looming over the Mediterranean, turning them into opportunities.

In a historical moment in which the project of European integration risks its disintegration or a substantial deadlock, and in which the disaffection of European citizens towards this project has reached the highest peak in recent years, recalling the teachings of one of the fathers founders of the European project constitutes not only a dutiful homage