Salvini’s Lega eyes EPP, wants distance from Le Pen
Matteo Salvini’s League party, which currently belongs to the far-right Identity and Democracy group (ID) in the EU House together with Marine Le Pen, is keen to move closer to the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), Italian press reports.
The official EPP member in Italy is Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, a coalition government member with Fratelli d’Italia and the League.
According to the report, no official decision was made at that meeting on the League’s place in the European Parliament, but the discussion became heated.
The official EPP member in Italy is Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which is a member of the coalition government together with Fratelli d’Italia and the League.
What has come to light so far is that Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia are in talks with EPP chief Manfred Weber to join Europe’s centre-right family.
But traditional and liberal EPP members entirely oppose such a discussion with Meloni and even slammed Weber’s move to build bridges with the far right without prior consultation.
According to EURACTIV’s information, Meloni, currently president of the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in Brussels, is eyeing a partnership with EPP and has close ties with Weber.
An EPP source close to the matter told EURACTIV recently that the EU centre-right family wants a strong member in a big country like Italy, while Meloni wants to portray herself as the new right in Italy.
The same source added that there is “no political time” for such a deal before the EU elections.
But now it seems that even the League, which is more extreme than Meloni, is also considering a change of coat in Europe to distance itself from extremists and gain more weight in Brussels.
Internal divisions
According to reports in Italian national media, the League is divided on the issue, and its leader and deputy prime minister in Giorgia Meloni’s government Matteo Salvini allegedly did not take a position and reconvened the party’s Federal Council on 29 May.
“The priority of the League is to change the EU, not the European political group”, reads an official note from the League group in Brussels.
We are “working to build an alternative to the left that has been misruling in Brussels for years and to make the League more and more a protagonist in Europe with its own battles”, the note continues, although no League member denied what was leaked in the national media.
“First, you wanted to join the (Mario) Draghi government, and then, with the victory of the centre-right, we confirmed ourselves as a government party. The natural outlet is to try to enter the majority in Strasbourg as well, bringing us closer to the EPP”, Riccardo Molinari, League’s group leader in the Chamber of Deputies, reportedly said, backed by Economy Minister and party stalwart Giancarlo Giorgetti.
(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it – Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)
Read more with EURACTIV
