(Bloomberg) -- Italy gave Chinese President Xi Jinping a lavish welcome with an escort of guards on horseback usually reserved for visiting monarchs, shrugging off concerns of European leaders at the Asian power making inroads in the continent.
Xi will meet President Sergio Mattarella and business leaders on Friday before a ceremony on Saturday at which the Chinese leader will sign a memorandum of understanding recruiting Italy for his trans-continental Belt and Road infrastructure project. That accord has triggered criticism from U.S. and European Union allies that Italy is jeopardizing its sovereignty.
About a dozen Italian companies will sign separate agreements with Chinese firms on Saturday, according to people familiar with the matter. They include engineering company Ansaldo Energia SpA, which will announce commissions from Shanghai Electric worth up to 200 million euros ($226 million), the people said.
Gas pipeline operator Snam SpA is expected to announce an agreement with the Silk Road Fund, they said. Spokespersons for Ansaldo and Snam declined to comment.
“Xi in Rome: The escort fit for kings,” headlined newspaper Corriere della Sera, before he was greeted at the presidential Quirinale Palace by guards on horseback -- an honor normally the privilege of monarchs, and last bestowed on then-Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Xi will also attend a gala dinner at the Quirinale this evening, with a concert by singer Andrea Bocelli.
Read more: Half the World Worries About Italy Getting in Bed With China
Rome’s welcome for Xi, spearheaded by Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, contrasts with the stand of EU leaders. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has called the Beijing government “a systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance.”
Amid worries that Italy is opening up a breach in a united EU stand toward China, French President Emmanuel Macron, who will be hosting Xi in Paris next week, has pointedly decided to invite German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to join them to discuss issues such as trade and climate. French officials said Merkel and Juncker were invited to bring a “European” element to the visit.
At an EU summit under way in Brussels, leaders are striving to bring China into the rules-based international order. The EU wants Beijing to commit to completing a trade accord removing barriers to the Chinese market for European companies.
Xi has said he wants to offer Italy a “global strategic partnership” stretching from building the new Silk Road together to boosting ties in sensitive sectors including telecoms and ports. Italy will be the first Group of Seven country to sign a Belt and Road memorandum, fueling U.S. concerns about an open door for China into strategic sectors.
(Adds details on accords from third paragraph.)
--With assistance from Tommaso Ebhardt.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.net;Chiara Albanese in Rome at calbanese10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Kevin Costelloe, Dan Liefgreen
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