EU: Meloni gambled on the motion against Ursula. The real reasons for the Brothers of Italy's refusal to vote
Ursula Von Der Leyen and Giorgia Meloni
The transition that took place in Strasbourg in recent days, until yesterday's vote on the motion of no confidence in Ursula von der Leyen , was not an easy one. It wasn't easy for the Democratic Party and its group, who seized the opportunity presented by a Romanian conservative's initiative to engage in tough negotiations with VdL, trying to wrest it from the right's embrace.
And it was especially not for Giorgia Meloni who, for the third time in a year, found herself having to choose between being fully accepted into the European mainstream and not exposing herself on the right flank, susceptible to the easy attacks of the League (staunchly pro-no-confidence) and the discontent of a segment of her electorate. Added to this is the fact that the no-confidence motion, strongly critical of von der Leyen , actually called for the resignation of the entire Commission, for technical reasons, including Raffaele Fitto , Vice President of the EU executive and a key figure in the Brothers of Italy (FdI) in Puglia and throughout the South.
Not to mention the ECR , which was split exactly in half over the no-confidence motion, but whose unity continues to represent an added value for the Prime Minister. And so, after co-president Procaccini 's initial announcement that FdI would vote against it, the final decision to not participate in the vote was reached in the final hours, a decision that delegation leader Carlo Fidanza then shared with the leaders of several other national delegations.
By doing so, Meloni wanted to maintain a distance from the initiative of her group colleagues, which she deemed unrealistic and counterproductive, her support for Fitto , the dialogue with the EPP (relaunched in the document with which Fidanza & Co explained their position), and the need not to disfigure Ursula at a time when she was in Rome to participate in the conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine.
It's too early to say whether the move will prove risky, whether it will have repercussions on Fitto's influence and the many issues Italy is negotiating in Brussels , or whether it will jeopardize the relationship between the People's Party and the Conservatives just when it was beginning to bear fruit on environmental issues and immigration. What is certain is that Meloni has taken her final gamble, careful as ever to keep the government and the people together.
Affari Italiani
