Italy Defence and Security Report Q2 2008

In February parliament's anti-Mafia commission released its first ever comprehensive report on the Calabria-based 'ndrangheta crime syndicate, regarded as the fastest growing and most powerful organisation of its kind in Europe. The report said that the organisation was spreading its tentacles like al Qaeda and resembled a fast-food chain because of its ability to expand abroad. It said the 'ndrangheta had eclipsed the Sicilian mafia and become 'one of the biggest criminal holding companies in the global economy'. Its cocaine business has been estimated to be worth US$44bn. The syndicate had spread out from its original base in southern Calabria to central and northern Italy, large swathes of Europe, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Morocco, Canada, the US and Australia. The organisation has, however, been affected by an internal feud between different families, which led to the murder of six Italians in a pizza restaurant in Germany in 2007. In February the leader of one of its feuding families, Pasquale Condello, who had been on wanted lists for twenty years and had already been sentenced to four life sentences in absentia for murder and other crimes, was arrested in the regional capital of Reggio Calabria.

BMI notes that as far as fundamentals are concerned, Italy has a medium-term stable political outlook with a low risk from terrorist threat. This must be qualified by a continuing vulnerability to corruption at various levels within the political system, and an antagonistic relationship between the judiciary and politicians. A further complicating factor is the question of bias in the media, with new legislation expected to tackle this thorny question. The political system remains somewhat vulnerable to authoritarianism.

There are currently no major conventional military threats to Italy, but the threat from international terrorism is significant. The threat of domestic terrorism has been significantly reduced since the dismantling of the extreme left-wing terrorist group, the Rosa Brigatta, though some fragmented members continue to operate. Italy's withdrawal of troops from Iraq at the end of 2006 helped to reduce, but not eliminate, the threat from international terrorism.

To defend against these threats and ensure the country's national security, Italy boasts one of the largest armed forces in Europe, which is, under its budgetary constraints, modernising to adapt to the changing nature of threats and warfare, and focusing on force projection and complete integration at multinational levels. The defence industry has obtained significant domestic contracts in recent years, but is looking increasingly towards pan-European and trans-Atlantic ventures to ensure its growth.