I vote for von der Leyen for a more incisive Italy –

Mario Monti gives Giorgia Meloni some advice. In an interview with La Stampa, the former prime minister intervenes in the discussion regarding the confirmation of Ursula von der Leyen to the European Commission, on which the current Prime Minister has already announced his abstention: “I would tell President Meloni to apply to herself a principle that she herself often recalls: working in the Italian national interest, which is different from that of president of a European political group. Naturally, at the Union level, working for the common European interest usually also means achieving a good part of the national interest. If Meloni votes in favor of the Von der Leyen Commission, Italy’s role in my opinion might be more incisive, the alternative is not desirable”.

“For regarding a year now,” Monti recalls, “the German Foreign Minister, with the support of Chancellor Scholz, has created a pressure group to overcome the principle of unanimity in decisions on European foreign policy, which is often paralyzed by vetoes today. Minister Antonio Tajani said he was in favor. In the Senate chamber, I explicitly asked President Meloni what her position was. Her response was ‘I am not in favor of overcoming the veto’. This is a specific case of conflict of interest between national interest and partisan interest. The same thing happened with European nominations.”

“The leaders of the major European parties and Ursula von der Leyen did not handle the matter in the best way, but in my opinion Meloni should have agreed to sit at the table as Italian Prime Minister, as she had been invited to do,” Monti’s final observation.