Skepticism is growing in Europe.

Athens, Vienna, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Düsseldorf Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni doesn’t think much of her country’s enthusiasm for China’s New Silk Road. Getting involved in the Belt and Road (BRI) initiative was a “big mistake,” she says. And their new economics minister, Adolfo Urso, recently said with a view to the entry of the Chinese state-owned company Cosco at a terminal in the Port of Hamburg: If other countries intend to switch from Russia’s energy dependence to China’s technological and commercial dependence, “we will not follow them”.

Italy is the first and only G7 country to have joined the Chinese Silk Road Initiative. That was three and a half years ago, in March 2019. At the signing, Vice President Luigi di Maio spoke of a “day on which ‘Made in Italy’ won, on which Italy won and Italian companies won”.