“Europe must take a different direction from the one it has taken so far”, this was what European citizens asked for in the last elections: and the leaders of the Union “cannot fail to grasp the clear signals coming from those who voted and from the many who decided not to do so”. On the eve of the first European Council of the new community legislature, Giorgia Meloni appears before the Chambers for her communications and thunders against the “conventio ad excludendum” that, according to the President of the Council, is being implemented in Brussels to the detriment of Italy in the game for the top nominations of the EU: a “fireplace logic” which, warns the leader of the Brothers of Italy, the Italian government has objected and that it “does not intend to accept”. “There are those who argue that citizens are not mature enough to make certain decisions and that oligarchy is ultimately the only acceptable form of democracy. But I don’t think so… We are convinced that the people are always right“, Meloni remarks in one of the passages of his long speech.
In the prime minister’s sights, those “European ruling classes” that “even in these days – Meloni attacks – unfortunately seem tempted to hide the dust under the carpet, to continue with old and disappointing logic as if nothing had happened” in the June vote. The reference is to the preliminary agreement between the three pro-European groups (PPE, socialists and Renew) on ‘top jobs’, which includes Ursula von der Leyen’s repeat leadership of the European Commission and the appointments of the Portuguese Antonio Costa and the Estonian Kaja Kallas respectively as President of the European Council and as High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the Union. A closed, pre-packaged ‘package’ which Meloni disputes in terms of method and substance and which he defines as a “lack of respect” towards citizens. The Prime Minister denounces the “precedent” that in her opinion is being created on top jobs: “It has never happened” that positions once considered “neutral” were imagined “in a logic of majority and opposition” as “is happening” , warns.
Meloni tries to bang his fists on the table, he assures that in the risk of nominations his country will “bring home the result” without going around “with hat in hand”. And an ‘assist’ in view of the European summit also comes from the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who on the occasion of the working lunch at the Quirinale with Meloni and ministers does not fail to make his voice heard: “Italy cannot be ignored” .
The prime minister’s objective is to obtain a vice-presidency for Italy and a commissioner with heavy responsibilities: the name of the Minister for European Affairs Raffaele Fitto, Meloni’s right-hand man, also esteemed in Europe, who could find a place in Brussels as super commissioner for Cohesion and the Recovery Plan. The obstacles on the path of negotiation, however, are not few. Meloni knows this and for this reason he raises the bar of the clash. She recognizes her (ex?) friend Ursula von der Leyen for having adopted a new “approach” to the issue of migrants – one of the hot dossiers that are closest to Italy’s heart – in the letter that the number one of the Commission addressed to the leaders yesterday of State and government of the EU. At the same time, however, Meloni is asking for a change of pace on many other dossiers, from green policies to investments. In this regard, the prime minister hypothesizes a “specific delegation to de-bureaucratization” to give “a clear signal” to citizens.
Meloni claims the growth of his European group, that of the Conservatives and Reformists, which has become the third group in the European Parliament in numerical terms. Votes that Meloni intends to make count and which could fail due to the reconfirmation of von der Leyen, if Italy were to emerge with broken bones from the negotiation. Moreover, Meloni underlines several times how that represented by the People’s Party, Socialists and Liberals is a “fragile majority”: “What we see today is that there are three parties that consider themselves a majority and that distribute some top positions. Majority? We’ll see it in Parliament…”.
If Meloni decided to abstain in a possible vote at the summit on 27 and 28 June on top positions for the next EU legislature, it would not be unprecedented. In fact, in 2014, when Jean-Claude Juncker was appointed to the top of the European Commission, it was the then British Prime Minister David Cameron, also a conservative like Meloni, who voted against. Criticism from the opposition is mounting on the Prime Minister’s intervention, but there is a moment in which everyone (even the minority parties) stands up to applaud: it is when the Prime Minister speaks of the “horrific and inhuman death” of the Indian laborer Satnam Singh”. Complete with a ‘rebuke’ to the deputy prime ministers Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani, sitting next to her: “Boys, get up too…”.
(from correspondent Antonio Atte)
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