“Voting with Schlein for a seat is embarrassing. Better without vice-presidents than with the Greens and the left.” The League does not mince words in stigmatising the words (and criticising the position in Europe of the government’s ally) of the deputy prime minister and leader of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani who – participating in the fifth edition of “Anuman”, an event aimed at the young Azzurri – claimed the “coherence” of his party in the “Yes to Von der Leyen’s second term at the head of the European Commission, while at the same time underlining the Popolari’s distance from the left”. To those who follow this “childish” reading, Tajani responds that the “No” front is made up of the right, but also of “Salis, Conte and Fratoianni”. However, the issue is different. “They will call the shots” and are in the “control room” of the European machine, and the Patriots – the European family of Salvini’s party – are “irrelevant”. In short, Le Pen’s far right “is out of the picture”, that is. the Foreign Minister’s reasoning “These days”, observes Tajani when opening the “Anuman” process – an initiative promoted by MP Alessandro Battilocchio at the Convent of the Capuchin Fathers in Tolfa (Rome) – “I am reading a lot of imprecise things, a lot of propaganda slogans. Some say that we voted like Schlein and the Greens. I could then say that those who voted “No” voted like Salis, Fratoianni and Conte. But this would be a childish answer, like saying that we voted with the left.” The Blue leader therefore claims “the coherent choice” of his party “because Von der Leyen was elected” by the EPP congress in Bucharest.
“If we compare the programme read by Von der Leyen, Popolari’s and FI’s are practically comparable. We are in perfect harmony on the issues of immigration, small and medium-sized businesses, agriculture, the Mediterranean and health. On the subject of the green economy,” Tajani explains, “it is true that Von der Leyen says ‘we will move forward with the green deal’, but there are issues of great importance such as technological neutrality and there is the possibility of reviewing the perverse rule that imposes a ban on non-electric cars by 2035.” For the FI’s deputy prime minister, “only those who do not read what is written can say that Von der Leyen’s programme is left-wing. In the future European Commission, there will be a relative majority of EPP commissioners. So the EPP will set the line and call the shots. We will be in the control room and this will allow us to ensure that there are no deviations that go in the wrong direction, especially when it comes to climate change. Certainly the far right like Le Pen is out of any game.” The Foreign Minister’s long analysis then focuses on “the vice-presidents of Roberta Mestola”, who was re-confirmed as head of the European Parliament, stressing that “the vice-presidents of the conservatives were elected” while “the vice-presidents of the Patriots were not elected”. And so, once again, the Patriots appear irrelevant. Even the Italian Patriots – continues the FI secretary – run the risk of being irrelevant within the European Patriots, but that leaves time to be found…”. Finally, Tajani cites a poll, released after the vote in Strasbourg, which shows that “Forza Italia is the only force growing in the centre-right. This shows that for the Italians, regardless of what the propaganda says to the contrary, we are doing the right thing and pursuing the objective of expanding our consensus to 20 percent.” After a few hours, sources from the League confirmed the divergence on the European front with their government ally: «Voting with Schlein – this is the response to Tajani’s words – for a seat is embarrassing. Better without vice-presidents than with the Greens and the left.”
Source: IL Tempo
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.
