Once ostracized, Italy's Meloni is now center stage in Europe
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[May 29, 2024]
By Crispian Balmer and Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) - When Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took power
in 2022, far-right parties across Europe hailed her victory, expecting
the fiery new leader in Rome to pursue a nationalist agenda and battle
the Brussels bureaucracy.
But rather than clash with the European Union elites, Meloni surprised
friend and foe alike by working closely with them, presenting herself as
a bridge between the mainstream centre-right and her own
arch-conservative camp, which was previously shunned.
Her influence might grow in the wake of next month's EU elections, if,
as she has hinted, she backs centre-right Commission President Ursula
von der Leyen for a second term.
That would give her leverage over the new EU executive, boost her
chances of winning an important portfolio for Italy in the next
commission and strengthen her role as a power broker.
"Meloni is the best person to act as a bridge between the different
factions of the right and centre-right in Europe, where she is a
respected and recognized leader," said Carlo Fidanza, the head of
Meloni's Brothers of Italy party in Europe.
While her ruling coalition in Rome unites various strands of Italy's
multifaceted right-wing, Meloni's chance of replicating that within the
next EU parliament looks impossible.
Von der Leyen and her allies have already said they would not work with
more extreme elements, including Meloni's Italian ally, Matteo Salvini,
who heads the anti-immigrant League party, and Marine Le Pen's National
Rally in France.
The distaste is mutual, with these parties also rebuffing von der Leyen.
However, the Commission president has expressed no qualms about Meloni,
brushing aside concerns in some EU capitals over the Brothers of Italy
party, which has neo-fascist roots.
"I have been working very well with Giorgia Meloni," von der Leyen told
a presidential debate in Brussels on May 23, adding that Meloni was
"clearly pro-European".
SWIFT RESULTS
Meloni's first foreign trip as prime minister in 2022 was to Brussels to
meet the EU leadership. She made a positive impression. "Boy oh boy was
she on top of her brief," said an EU official present at one of the
meetings.
In the following months, Meloni engaged with the Commission, proving
instrumental in securing a deal on the reform of the EU's asylum rules
after nearly 10 years of failed attempts.
She also travelled with von der Leyen on three occasions to North
Africa, signing deals with Egypt and Tunisia that included provisions to
stem migrant departures - accords that have helped see a 58% fall in new
arrivals to Italy so far this year.
Crucially, Meloni has also offered constant support for Ukraine and
unabated criticism of Russia, marking her out from the likes of Le Pen
and Salvini, who traditionally have had close ties with Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
"Meloni has been clever," said Daniele Albertazzi, politics professor at
Britain's Surrey University. "What she's done is to say: 'Look, let's be
mainstream and responsible on the international stage because I need
these guys'."
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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomes European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen at Chigi Palace, in Rome, Italy,
January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
One senior EU leader, speaking strictly off the record, said Meloni
remained a "radical right-winger" but had adopted a pro-European
attitude because Italy was heavily indebted and could not antagonize
nations that provided Rome with financial cover.
Whatever her motivations, Meloni has proved invaluable in recent
summits, helping to persuade the often recalcitrant Hungarian
nationalist leader, Viktor Orban, to let through a funding package
for Ukraine and to back the EU migration pact.
One EU official, who declined to be named, said the Commission
largely communicated with the Hungarian leader via Meloni, earning
her the nickname "the Orban whisperer".
DIVISIONS ABIDE
Europe's far-right and nationalist parties often share similar
policy platforms, but are divided into two distinct blocs within the
EU parliament.
Meloni is head of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
group, which includes Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party. Salvini
and Le Pen are in the Identity and Democracy (ID) bloc, while
Orban's Fidesz party is homeless for now.
Von der Leyen comes from the centre-right European People's Party (EPP)
- the largest single EU political grouping.
Meloni ruled out supporting von der Leyen in 2019, but has not been
drawn this time around. Party officials told Reuters that Italy
might support her reappointment in June as part of a deal that
included a top job for Italy in the new Commission.
Although Meloni is the leading force in the ECR, she would be
unlikely to bring the whole group into line, underscoring the
intersecting rivalries that criss-cross European politics.
PiS lawmakers, for example, would almost certainly refuse to back
von der Leyen because their domestic foe, Polish Prime Minister
Donald Tusk, is a driving force in von der Leyen's EPP.
"Von der Leyen and Donald Tusk are politicians from a bygone era who
should have no more influence on European politics," PiS European
lawmaker Zdzisław Krasnodębski told Reuters.
Meloni has also ruled out merging her ECR group with ID, which
recently ditched its most radical partner, the Alternative for
Germany (AfD) party, hoping instead that her bloc will grow at the
ballot box to give her more leverage in Brussels.
"Having a more significant parliamentary group would allow Meloni to
be at the centre between ID and the EPP. For me, that is her goal,"
said Arturo Varvelli, director of the European Council on Foreign
Relations in Rome.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Angelo Amante in Rome, Andrew Gray in
Brussels, Alan Charlish in Warsaw and John Irish in Paris; Editing
by Sharon Singleton)
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