Caserta, Lecce, Catanzaro, Palermo and Rome. These will be the stages of the mission of the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who will be in Italy from Sunday, December 3. The cities of Southern Italy are at the center of the trip, which will be the beginning of the election campaign for the European elections to be held next June. Metsola decided to dedicate this tour to Southern Italy to encourage voters’ participation in the vote, especially young people. There are other reasons behind the official reasons. The next European elections could disrupt the classical structure of the Strasbourg parliament, which is traditionally dominated by the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and European People’s Party (EPP) factions and includes the President of the Parliament. Given June 9, popular groups on the centre-right fear an exponential growth of sovereigntists and conservatives on the far right, represented by the groups Identity and Democracy (Lega) and Reformists and conservatives (Brothers of Italy). Although they are natural allies, if they dominate the elections they could undermine some of the principles that have so far held the European Union together through Euroscepticism. Therefore, the trip of the President of the European Chamber aims to attract the attention of moderate southern voters and distract them from the sirens of the far right.
program
Metsola’s mission, accompanied by Democratic Party vice president Pina Picierno, will begin on Sunday with a visit to the Royal Palace of Caserta. He will later speak at a conference on the Ventotene Manifesto and Europe at the city council headquarters. Meetings are also planned with representatives of anti-Camorra organizations. Instead, Lecce will be the planned stop on Monday 4th, where he will speak at a conference on the challenges facing Europe and the Next Generation EU, alongside the Minister of European Affairs and Pnrr Raffaele Fitto. In the evening, Metsola will arrive in Catanzaro, where he will hold a meeting with MPs from his Southern Italian constituency. A meeting is planned for Tuesday morning, November 5, also in Catanzaro, with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (former president of the EU Parliament, respectively) and Roberto Occhiuto, president of the Calabria Region. Metsola will travel to Palermo on the same day to pay tribute to the memory of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and will attend various public events, including the opening of the academic year of the University of Palermo. The President of the European Chamber will end his term in Rome on Wednesday, November 6, where he will meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
bilateral jurisdiction
What can Metsola say to encourage southern voters, especially young people, to vote? The Maltese politician said at a press conference in November: “Looking back, we are on a five-year marathon to adopt legislation that will make Europe greener, fairer, more competitive, more geopolitical and more fit for the digital age.” It ranks 30th, along with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who will assume the rotating presidency of the EU Council as of January 1. Statements that may not be attractive enough, especially when compared to the actual impact. The intentions of the mandate, which are linked to the tenure of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have actually been diluted over time to the point of being rejected by votes in Strasbourg over the last few months. The majority of MPs have massively watered down some of the pillars of the Green Deal: the Nature Restoration Act, the Packaging Directive and the complete debacle of the Pesticide Reduction Regulations.
Ambitious five-year targets were largely disrupted, first by the pandemic and then by Russia’s war against Ukraine. The loss of widespread consensus between the so-called traditional parties and the Greens in the general elections held after 2019 also disrupted the initial intentions towards Hungary, ruled by Viktor Orban, and Poland, dominated by the Law and Justice Party (after the last elections, new pending a government), the far right has gained a foothold in Italy, Sweden, Finland and, last week, the Netherlands. The Qatargate scandal, which could shake the European Parliament to its foundations and even involve the former Greek vice president of the EP, Eva Kaili, was also included in this framework.
Stop the bleeding after Berlusconi
In the last European elections in 2019, the Southern Italian constituency saw victory for the 5 Star Movement with 29.1% of the vote (MEPs were then dispersed into various political groups in Strasbourg) and the League (23.5%). The Democratic Party is in third place (17.9%). Metsola Popolari’s Forza Italia stalled at 12.2%. The ones to be held in June will be the first elections after the death of its founder, Silvio Berlusconi, who has always guaranteed a significant contribution at the European level for more than three decades. The EPP fears losing most of its MPs to Forzisti, orphans of the charismatic Italian leader. If we imagine hot topics that Metsola could focus on to encourage voting in the South, there are blocking illegal entries into the EU (but put differently than the far right), reducing energy costs for families, investing for savings. We encourage young people in the south by promoting small businesses and the fight against violence against women.
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Source: Today IT
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
