FdI, Lega and those old friends in Brussels – Corriere.it

The stiff competition. And federated storytelling. The 2024 European Championships may seem distant, but it is precisely on that horizon that the Brothers of Italy and the League are already measuring themselves. Neither Giorgia Meloni neither Matthew Salviniunited in the Italian centre-right but divided in Brussels between the Ecr (Brothers of Italy) and Id (Lega) Eurogroups, seem to have no intention of giving up on old friends: just yesterday both parties voted against the proposal to exclude the Hungary of Viktor Orban by the rotating presidency of the EU scheduled for the second half of 2024, immediately after the European elections (proposal accepted by the European Parliament but not supported by the Council). And Orbán is already the first unknown: after his exit-expulsion from the Ppe in 2021 (but he had already been suspended since 2019) both Meloni and Salvini explicitly courted him.

But the war in Ukraine has changed the cards on the table: he probably would have already joined Giorgia Meloni’s ECR if it weren’t for the fact that the Atlanticist line with no ifs, ands, or buts of the Italian premier has made Fidesz’s entry into the ECR inadvisable. Just as it makes the relationship with the Pis, the ruling party in Poland and Meloni’s first ally, more complicated: European criticism of anti-liberal and confessional-inspired laws had been silenced by the very strong anti-Russian commitment and in support of Ukraine provided by Warsaw. But the approaching Polish elections (in autumn) are already tightening the tone and the commission of inquiry into Russian interference signed by the premier Morawieckiin Brussels it is essentially seen as a way to politically cut off his rival, the former liberal president Donald Tusk, now at the head of the main opposition party (Po). But the real point of the challenge is the relationship with the European Populars. The regaining strength of the right wing of the party led by Manfred Weber seems to help Giorgia Meloni in her strategy, which the MEP Charles Fidanza summarized as follows: «Bringing the Meloni model to Europe. That of a center-right government that puts the left and the right allied with the popular at a corner».

Matteo Salvini, in theory, should fit into this picture. But its allies in Identity and Democracy are cumbersome: the German extreme right of Alternative für Deutschland and also the Rassemblement national of Marine Le Pen. Both indigestible for the German Populaires. And therefore, the spotlights are now focused on the Spanish elections: the possible government between Popolari and Vox would be the most auspicious of gifts for the Italian allies-rivals. It being understood that the Europeans are based on a proportional system: competition between the parties is inevitable.

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