Cabinet proposes Fitto as European commissioner

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - The Italian government tapped European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto as European commissioner, Premier Giorgia Meloni announced at a government meeting on Friday, according to well-informed sources.
    Meloni told the gathering that she would communicate to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's Fitto's name as commissioner "and I ask everybody to applaud and wish good luck to Raffaele, who has an extremely difficult and at the same time exciting task ahead", according to the sources.
    "It is a painful choice for me, and for the government, but it is a necessary choice", she is reported to have said.
    The premier added the choice is "delicate and very important for us and for Italy in the coming years.
    "Our choice falls on a person who has great experience and who has been able to govern the responsibilities entrusted to him in this government with excellent results", Meloni noted. (ANSA).
    Meanwhile Fitto thanked Meloni and the cabinet for naming him as candidate to be a European Commissioner.
    "Over the next five years, the Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen will have a fundamental role in strengthening the European Union, in the well-being and security of its citizens as well as to favour the solution of major international crises.
    "I am ready to give my contribution to reach these objectives", said Fitto, who is also the minister for the south, territorial cohesion and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
    Meloni has indicated that she hopes Fitto will claim one of the vice presidential positions on the EC. (ANSA).