The ruling EU coalition supporting
Ursula von der Leyen getting a second term at the helm of the
European Commission should reach out to the European
Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR), which is chaired by
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and includes her right-wing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, Deputy Premier and Foreign
Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.
"A broad majority is needed to give a response to voters"
Tajani, whose Forza Italia (FI) belongs to von der Leyen's
European People's Party (EPP), said as he arrived at the
inauguration of the Milan section of the Unified Patent Court.
Meloni and the ECR were not involved in the negotiations that
led to von der Leyen being nominated for a second term and
former Portuguese premier Antonio Costa getting the nod to come
in as the new European Council chair and Estonian Prime
Minister Kaja Kallas to become the new EU foreign policy chief.
Meloni abstained on von der Leyen's nomination at last week's EU
summit, while voting No to Costa and Kallas, saying the deal
between the EPP, Costa's Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and
Kallas's liberal Renew Europe was "wrong in method and
substance".
In an interview published in Monday's Corriere della Sera,
Tajani explained his stance more fully.
"There are several majorities within the EU," he said.
"There is one in the European Council, is represented by von der
Leyen.
"Then there is another in European Parliament, which must elect
von der Leyen and gives approval to commissioners and can change
from dossier to dossier.
"I protested at the EPP (pre-summit) meeting for more attention
to be paid to our requests, and I stated that we would not
accept an opening to the Greens.
"And I also said, and I will work for this until the 18th, that
we must open up to the Conservatives if we want to be sure that
von der Leyen will be voted for.
"It is good for the principle of stability that the majority
that supports her is broad and certain.
"An agreement with the Conservatives is fundamental, we cannot
preclude dialogue with the right".
He added that Italy had the right to a major position within the
new EU executive.
"It cannot not have a important commissioner and vice
president," he said, adding that European Affairs Minister
Raffaele Fitto, a member of Meloni's FdI, fits the bill.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
