Party of Italian PM Meloni voted against von der Leyen as EU chief

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party on July 18 voted against a second term for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, blasting her courting of the Greens.

The European Parliament voted to hand the German ex-defence minister another five-year term as head of the EU’s executive body - but without the backing of the leader of the eurozone’s third biggest economy.

Ms Meloni - a eurosceptic who nonetheless in recent months has worked with Dr von der Leyen on key issues such as migration - had refused to say how her post-fascist Brothers of Italy party would vote.

But afterwards, Mr Carlo Fidanza, head of the party’s delegation in the European Parliament, told reporters they voted ‘no’.

He hailed the “collaborative spirit” of recent EU-Italy relations, including over Italy’s spending plans for almost €200 billion (S$290 billion) in grants and loans as part of the EU’s post-pandemic recovery funds.

But he said Dr von der Leyen’s search for support on the left, notably her endorsement by the Greens, “made our support impossible”.

Her programme did not reflect “the strong message of change that came out of the polls on June 9.“

He expressed hope that the decision would not affect the EU-Italy working relationship, repeating that Rome expects a weighty role in the next European Commission.

But Ms Meloni’s rivals criticised the decision, with the main opposition centre-left Democratic Party accusing the premier of being “isolated in Europe”.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, whose far-right League party also voted against Dr von der Leyen, said the German’s re-election was a “slap in the face with new green taxes, migrant landings and war”, in reference to the EU’s strong support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion.

Their coalition partner, the right-wing Forza Italia led by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, is part of the same EU grouping as Dr von der Leyen and so backed her.

Ms Meloni had sought to be a bridge between mainstream conservatives and the far-right, who benefitted from a surge in support in EU elections.

But some of her allies left her for a new parliamentary grouping led by Hungary’s Viktor Orban.

Mr Lorenzo Castellani, a political expert at Rome’s Luiss university, said on X that Ms Meloni’s party had made a “serious mistake” with the vote.

He accused it of preferring to “retreat into a corner with the right and exclude themselves from the influence process” with the result that “the government emerges weakened”. AFP