“No to a majority with the left. We will collaborate with von der Leyen” –

An interview to clarify all the moves made in the domino of the European Union. “I said that my party would not form a majority with the left of all colors and I did not do it. But this has nothing to do with the role of Italy, which is not given by the choices of the parties of the majority in Parliament, but by its weight within the European Union and the credibility of its government. After that, it seems to me that few people know the European dynamics, where majorities when put to the test change from dossier to dossier and the parties of the Italian majority, given their weight, can largely make the difference”, these are the statements of Giorgia Meloni in an interview with Corriere della Sera, explaining her party’s vote against Ursula von der Leyen. “If the opposition wants to collaborate on the various measures, based on Italian interests, we will be very happy”, the clarification of the President of the Council. But on the vote there were no snipers in Fratelli d’Italia: “The numbers rule it out. Compared to the majority that von der Leyen had on paper, there are over 50 votes less. If we had voted for her, there would be about 80 votes missing. Does this mean that von der Leyen does not actually have a majority? Interesting…”.

In any case, the vote is not linked to the future delegations that Italy could obtain in the Commission: “I think this interpretation is surreal. That is, is it argued that von der Leyen does not recognize the role of the member countries that their weight determines, but decides based on whether the government parties voted for her or not? I think the decision now belongs to the President of the Commission, with whom we have already demonstrated that we are able to collaborate loyally. Even in the past two years we were not part of her majority, but this did not prevent her from listening to us when our theses were sensible and useful. And it did not prevent us from helping the Commission when we believed it was in the Italian and European interest. I have no reason to believe that this will not be the case in the future. I always speak with the President of the Commission, it is my duty to do so and we have learned to respect each other. We have collaborated up to now and – Meloni underlines – we will continue to do so in the future. We are people who have responsibilities and understand their weight. Italy depends on European choices, but Europe also depends on Italy because we are not a province of the empire. We are one of the founding countries, the second manufacturing industry, the third economy and we also have the most stable government among the great nations of Europe. Everyone recognizes the weight and role of Italy and I am sure that these will be the evaluations that will be made when the delegations are defined”.

For the new Italian EU commissioner, a role for which Raffaele Fitto has long been mentioned, Meloni clarifies the situation as follows: “I do not start from the name, but from the delegation. When we understand, as I hope, what type of matter could be entrusted to Italy, we will identify, together with the majority, the person who we believe is best. Our priority is the delegations of an economic, industrial, competitiveness, cohesion nature, which allow us to help Italy and Europe”.