The EU leaders who are negotiating the top positions of the bloc have reached an agreement. Agreement which provides for the nomination of Ursula von der Leyen (EPP) for a second term as president of the European Commission, the former Portuguese prime minister António Costa (PSE) will be the next president of the European Council while the Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas (ALDE) will be the High Representative of the European Union.
The agreement comes ahead of a summit of European leaders to be held tomorrow and Friday in Brussels to decide who will lead the European Union institutions for the next five years. To be nominated, von der Leyen needs the support of a strengthened qualified majority of EU leaders, representing at least 20 countries and 65% of the European Union’s population.
The agreement reached by the EPP, PSE and Renew negotiators at the level of heads of state and government is also confirmed by EU diplomatic sources. In particular, the negotiators also agreed to continue, as regards the European Council, with the practice followed so far, i.e. that of reconfirming, halfway through the legislature, the president in office, in this case the Portuguese Antonio Costa.
Offer and role of Italy
“The next summit of heads of state and government will be a very important opportunity to discuss the new institutional structures of the European Union and Italy intends to play a leading role in this discussion, appropriate to its status as a founding country” , said the Minister for European Affairs Raffaele Fittowho yesterday participated in the work of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, the last of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
“We discussed above all the preparation of the next European Council on 27 and 28 June – he explained – appointments are not the only relevant topic on the agenda of the European Council. For us it is very important that a clear message on issues emerge from the summit crucial for us such as the competitiveness of the European economy, defence, migration and the strategic agenda as well as, obviously, foreign policy issues such as Ukraine and the Middle East, on which much progress has been made thanks to the recent summit of the G7, chaired by President Giorgia Meloni”.
In recent days the Prime Minister had already expressed her opinion on the subject. “Whoever will hold the top positions”, in Europe “everyone knows what role will be played by Italy, the founder and third largest economy in Europe, with the most solid government of all”, or “a role of the highest rank that I intend to claim” , said Giorgia Meloni.
AND Fitto himself could pack his bags. “To make a Lease you need three…”, confides a minister. But also “you don’t change a team that wins”. And so, a few hours after the start of the negotiations in Brussels on the so-called ‘top jobs’ – and cascading on the other appointments that will define the future European Commission – in the Roman palaces the calculations are being made on what will happen if and when the super minister – the weight of 4 delegations under his belt – go to Europe. Because many people, inside and outside the government, think that the ‘move’ of the Salento minister is now written. To look favorably on a possible agreement on his name (a moderate and well-liked face in the EU, esteemed, they say, even by Emmanuel Macron who certainly has no great weakness for the Italian executive) would be Ursula Von der Leyen herself, at work to secure his repeat at the helm of the Commission.
The game is still to be played. In Brussels, as in Strasbourg, there are many checkers and it is difficult to play checkers. But what will happen in Rome if Fitto really finds a place for himself in Brussels as super commissioner for cohesion and the Recovery plan? According to what Adnkronos learns from qualified sources, the hypothesis of a government reshuffle should be “excluded a priori”, despite the rumors bouncing between the Chamber, the Senate and Palazzo Chigi even speak of an ‘unpacking’, with Fitto’s superministry – European Affairs, PNRR, Cohesion and the South – split in two, divided into two departments. This will not be the case, assure sources close to the prime minister. That he never made a secret about wanting to see his team reach the end of the race – “you don’t change a team that wins”, in fact.
Depriving yourself of someone like Fitto, then, for her would mean “removing a piece from 90”, because it is known – but also evident from the powers assigned to him, starting from the 194.4 billion of the Pnrr – that the Prime Minister she trusts him like few others. “Trust well placed, in these 18 months he has worked for three”, reasons an FDI minister. Yet it seems that the prime minister – who for this very reason would see the possibility of taking on another ‘important’ role in the Commission, thus avoiding having to do without Fitto – is determined not to assign the superdicastery to others in this case , but to ‘restart’ the package of delegations that Fitto now manages alone. First of all, focusing on Palazzo Chigi, where the prime minister can count on two undersecretaries such as Alfredo Mantovano and Giovanbattista Fazzolari. And later playing the card of an ad hoc undersecretary – two positions were lost in the sub-government, with the resignations of Vittorio Sgarbi and Augusta Montaruli – creating one for European Affairs.
Delegations to be distributed therefore, at most a newly appointed undersecretary. No reshuffle, no new minister to strengthen the ranks of the government. But will Meloni be able to do without one of his protégés without affecting the team? “Clearly yes – the same sources say they are certain – and not only because the Italian Pnrr is now well underway, we have entered phase 2, but above all because, if everything goes as it should in Brussels, on Pnrr and cohesion in the future from Rome we will have to interface with Raffaele, he will be our contact person, so we will have an easier life than Fitto himself has had in this year and a half.”
No ‘make-up’, therefore, probably also to avoid that, by touching a pawn, a domino effect is generated, igniting the appetites of the allies and undermining the balance on which the government holds. The game still remains to be played: “It’s early, let’s see what happens in Brussels”, the watchword. Minus 48 hours. (by Ileana Sciarra)
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