European Parliament, Von der Leyen opens up to Meloni: “I worked well with her”

Two weeks before the vote, the issue of the alliance with the right is at the center of the debate between the candidates. In the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels, the five candidates for the presidency of the European Commission faced each other in Eurovision: the Austrian Walter Baier for the European Left, the Italian Sandro Gozi for Renew Europe Now, the outgoing German President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen for the European People’s Party, German Terry Reintke for the European Greens and Luxembourgish Nicolas Schmit for the Party of European Socialists. Absent were the representatives of Identity and Democracy and the Conservatives and Reformists, who did not express their spitzenkandidat because they do not recognize the system of nominating a common European candidate for the leadership of the EU Executive, a choice that, according to the Treaties, it is up to the Heads of State and Government meeting in the European Council. During the debate, the tone heated up with the possible opening of the Popular Party, destined to be confirmed first by force, to some parties to its right. The reference is to the Brothers of Italy. «I worked very well with Giorgia Meloni in the European Council», says von der Leyen, specifying that much will depend on the choices and movements that MEPs will undertake in the new Parliament. «We will see who will be the pro-Europe – and you are – the anti-Putin – and you are – that is, pro-rule of law. This way we can work together”, explains the German leader, specifying that it is not a question of collaborating with the entire Ecr group. In short, it is a far from hidden wink that the popular candidate gives to the Italian Prime Minister, from whom, however, she distances herself when it comes to LGBTIQ rights: “I have a completely different approach”, she says. She names Rassemblement National in France, AfD in Germany or Konfederacja in Poland, who “have one thing in common: they are friends of Putin and want to destroy our EU. We will not allow that.”

For socialist candidate Nicolas Schmit, however, the red line includes all groups Id and Ecr. «We are ready to collaborate with all democratic forces, but I do not believe that the ECR and ID are democratic forces for different regions. Even in Italy we are now seeing attacks against women, against the media. Therefore, they do not correspond to fundamental values”, observed the Luxembourger, provoking the anger of the Brothers in Italy. The message from the Renew Europe liberals is equally clear. “We say ‘no, no, no to forming alliances with the extreme right. I will never support an alliance with those who question LGBTQ rights, our approach to migration, respect for the Constitution, the rule of law. No to alliances with the far-right ECR and ID”, thundered the centrist candidate, Sandro Gozi, running for reconfirmation on the French lists of the Macronian Renaissance party. “All roads lead to Rome, but the path that Ursula von der Leyen will not take very far away, the closer you are to Giorgia Meloni, Fratelli d’Italia and Ecr, the further you will be from us. This is clear”, highlighted the former Italian undersecretary of the Renzi and Gentiloni governments. Even for Gozi, von der Leyen’s opening. to the Fratelli d’Italia “does not hold water, because, like Vox and Zemmour, it is not a pro-European force: they do not want to reform the treaties, they do not want to increase the European budget. Few changes if the ID group is trying to clean up”. Today the group, at the request of the League and Rassemblement National, expelled Alternative für Deutschland, specifying that the group “no longer wants to be associated with the incidents involving Maximilian Krah, leader of the AfD for the European elections”. ” which was “activated too late”, comments the president of the PPE, Manfred Weber.