Giorgia Meloni was furious. The far-right Italian prime minister, who presents herself in Brussels as constructive and moderate and heads the extreme right that some conservatives consider acceptable, felt on Monday during the meeting of European leaders that, when push comes to shove, the distribution of senior positions of the EU was negotiated without it. That popular, socialist and liberal positions are distributed like trading cards and that Italy, the third largest economy in the Union, is ignored. Her frustration with this isolation was palpable at the European Council, which ended without agreement on major appointments. And the Italian leader dragged along other ultra-conservatives (the Hungarian Viktor Orbán or the Czech Peter Fiala), as well as the Swedish conservative Ulf Kristersson, whose Government has the parliamentary support of the extreme right. All of them also criticized the fact that, in their opinion, small countries are ignored, according to community sources.
The ultras demand their share of power in a European Union – including the European Council, which represents the leaders of the member countries – that is increasingly kaleidoscopic and leaning towards very conservative positions. And the risk of blockade by the extreme right, if they do not obtain the part they consider their right, is already a reality. This has been shown by the episode of Meloni, who presented herself in Brussels as the great winner of the European elections in Italy and one of the leaders who, unlike the German Olaf Scholz and the French Emmanuel Macron (badly beaten at the polls by the extreme right), ), has emerged reinforced. The ruler headed the European list of her party and is projected as the head of a stable Government in tumultuous times.
Meloni was one of the obstacles – not the only one – to closing political support for the list that should head the EU institutions, says a European diplomat. There is consensus on the favorites: the German Ursula von der Leyen (popular) to repeat as head of the European Commission; the Portuguese António Costa (social democrat) for the European Council; the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas (liberal), as high representative for Foreign Policy and Security. Finally, and although less discussed on Monday, popular Maltese Roberta Metsola is also expected to continue as president of the European Parliament.
But displeasure over how negotiations have been carried out between the three main political families hampered progress in a process that everyone seemed to be in a hurry to close. He ended up paralyzed by the attempt to accumulate more power by the European People’s Party (EPP), which in addition to the presidency of the Commission, demands to lead half of the legislature of the European Council, without giving the Portuguese Costa the option of being re-elected after the mandatory two and a half years. This is an ordeal with which they seek to make visible that they are the great winners of the European elections – which could also result in an executive vice-presidency of the Commission – which angered the socialists. “Institutionally, furthermore, this division in the Council is not practical,” says a senior community official.
“Decisions can be made without Meloni and appointments can be approved by a qualified majority, without it, but the price of doing so is high and not too realistic,” reflects a senior community source who participated on Monday in the leaders’ discussion process. . “Do we want an all-out battle with the ultra-conservatives on the Council and for a blockade to occur that ends up hampering the decision-making process? Furthermore, that could increase Eurosceptic or Europhobic sentiment in those countries because, whether we like it or not, those leaders have been democratically elected,” she adds.
The ultra options form (or support) governments in eight Member States: Hungary, Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Slovakia and, as soon as a new Government is formed, the Netherlands (another net contributor to the community budget, like Italy, although in this case the Dutch extremist party of Geert Wilders will not occupy the position of prime minister). And Meloni’s political family, the European Reformists and Conservatives (ECR), has become the fourth in the European Parliament in the absence of recruiting more members — they are already touching the Fidesz of the national-populist Viktor Orbán. The Italian Prime Minister, in fact, hopes to bring together the different ultra leaders, from the various European families, under her umbrella in the Council, where she considers herself the most influential. But during the meeting and the subsequent dinner in which the cards had to be put on the table, a cordon sanitaire was applied that, behind closed doors – at least during the electoral campaign – the popular ones had dynamited to end up agreeing with forces such as yours.
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Meloni, who arrived in the community capital after organizing the G-7 leaders’ meeting in Italy, has overestimated his political capital and influence in Brussels, some sources believe. “He misread the moment,” others point out. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, one of the EPP negotiators, put it much more bluntly: “It is not my job to convince Meloni; We already have a majority with the EPP, the liberals, the socialists and other small groups, my feeling is that it is already more than enough.” In some ways it reflects the feelings of some conservatives who believe that alliances with the extreme right, such as with Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, with fascist roots, is harmful.
The Italian and the rest of the leaders who did not adopt a negotiating role waited in a Council room for two hours, while Tusk and the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis, along with the socialists Pedro Sánchez and Olaf Scholz, talked about the distribution of positions. Then, far from expanding the conversation to 27, the third most voted political family entered the scene, the liberals, with the Dutchman Mark Rutte and the Frenchman Macron. The rest had the feeling that there was too much going on and haggling, says a source familiar with those conversations, which took place with hardly any contact with the outside world. After that, they decided to extend the process (which they could only have agreed to informally, in any case) by 10 days; until the summit on June 27 and 28. “There was an attempt to force the decision, but several leaders thought it was better to give themselves more time to discover possible secret pacts,” says a European source.
The Hungarian Orbán charged against the process on social networks, where he accused a few of cooking everything behind his back. “The will of the people has been ignored today,” he said. “We will not give up and will join forces with the European right against the bureaucrats, pro-immigration and pro-war,” he added.
Secret pacts and promises
Meloni, frustrated, is now pushing to achieve a great vice presidency in the next Commission to make her power visible. Macron is also moving towards this, who has emerged very shaken from the European elections and who faces legislative elections in France that could elevate the far-right of Marine Le Pen to the head of Government of the second largest economy in the EU. The Frenchman also wants to show off that he has ignored Meloni, with whom he had a clash over the right to abortion during the G-7 meeting in southern Italy. The rest want small prizes and concessions to show, in Brussels and at home, that they also count. Despite the fact that the cast cooks it and only a few eat it.
“The rules are clear: nominations for the highest positions in the European institutions must respect political and geographical interests. The Czech Republic is at the center of Europe and our future portfolio must reflect it,” the Czech Fiala, whom the EPP usually gives as an example of an acceptable and moderate ultra-conservative – like Meloni – launched this Tuesday.
The popular ones are mobilizing to gain support – especially in Parliament, where it will be Von der Leyen’s true litmus test and where they are trying to sign new members – but so are the socialists. This Tuesday, Pedro Sánchez – one of the negotiators of the socialist family – met with the president of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, to discuss the appointment process, according to diplomatic sources. Slovakia is governed by a coalition led by Smer, a party that until not long ago was a member of the European social democratic family and whose leader is the prime minister, Robert Fico, still recovering from an assassination attempt. However, Smer’s militancy among the Social Democrats was suspended due to the illiberal drift of the pro-Russian politician.
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