EPP, allies 'rushing' as deal 'fragile' says Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 19 - The European People's Party (EPP) and its allies the Socialists and Liberals are "rushing" to set up a replica of their existing European majority, perhaps tweaked with the addition of the Greens, and on the EU top jobs because they know it is a "fragile" deal, Premier and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) chair Giorgia Meloni said Wednesday.
    "They're tempted to rush because the protagonists realise it is a fragile deal," she said, adding that that it was "surreal" that the European Parliament groups had not conducted a "reflection" on the vote, which saw the right make considerable gains, and instead had immediately come out with the names of German ex defence minister Ursula von der Leyen as confirmed Commission chief, former Portuguese premier António Costa to take over from Charles Michel as European Council chair, and Maltese MP Roberta Metsola as confirmed EP president.
    "I don't interpret democracy this way, these are attitudes that put citizens off," she said. (ANSA).