“The Franco-German axis has ended and it is the voters who decided it,” the leader of the Brothers of Italy party in the Lower House tells ‘Euronews’.
Last week, the first minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, opposed the agreement on EU senior officials and abstained from the vote on the candidacy of the current president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
He argued that the pact had problems of both “method and merit.” Speaking before the Italian Parliament, he said that the decision seemed “undemocratic” since it did not take into account the vote of the people.
With the double “no” to Kallas and Costa, doubts have been raised in both Brussels and Rome about whether Meloni’s attitude could isolate Italy. Some analysts have suggested that could be a way to save time. With just a couple of weeks to go until the vote on the EU’s most powerful job, we asked the party leader Brothers of Italy in the Lower House on Giorgia Meloni’s position.
“The objective of the appointments of senior EU officials is recognize the message that has emerged from the surveyswhich says that both Macron’s and Scholz’s policies have been rejected by voters,” explains Tommaso Foti.
A democratically elected government instead of a technocratic cabinet is what Giorgia Meloni has advocated since before she was appointed prime minister, and it is one of the fundamental principles of its political Government.
Decisions are made at the top
This time, however, the debate about “decisions made only by a small group of people” refers to what has been happening within the EU institutions. Enzo Moavero Milanesi, former Minister of EU Affairs during the Monti Government, tells ‘Euronews’ that Italy does not run the risk of ending up isolated in the EU.
But it is clear that under Meloni, after the recent victory in the EU elections, The Italian Government wants to be seen and heard more than in previous years. The motto “Italy and Italians first” is one of the main political promises that Meloni has always wanted to fulfill.
It seems that, in the eyes of the Brothers of Italy, Brussels has to recognize that the political turn to the right It is happening in Europe by the will of the people. As Foti explains, “we don’t see why we should continue to believe in the existence of the Franco-German axis when it has already been demolished by the voters of both countries“.
Meloni wants to show that Italy has a voice in Europe
According to Moavero Milanesi, Meloni follows a political strategy and that is what counts. “The ball is in the Italian Prime Minister’s court. The way the EU institutions are chosen It’s very different from the way national elections work.“says Milanesi, adding that in Meloni’s case, she is also the president of the ECR political group in the European Parliament. So when it comes to deciding senior EU appointments, both roles have an impact on which strategy she chooses.
In other words, according to Milanesi, many factors different can determine the decisions of the Government Italian in Europe. All of them count when forging a political strategy. He French election result It is also another element in the mix, as political analyst Roberto Arditti points out: “It will further clarify how strong right-wing parties are across Europe within national governments,” Arditti tells ‘Euronews’.
Although Le Pen and Meloni would have to reach an agreement with their political differencesArditti continues: “It is difficult to think that the balances of power in Brussels would exclude both the French and Italian governments if both had a right-wing majority.”
Above all, apart from the saga of appointments to top EU posts and the Italian disappointment that followed, Meloni is focusing on one thing: Secure a senior Commission position for Italy. Without him, it will be difficult for his government to show Italian voters that Rome really has a voice in Europe.
