Fitto executive VP for cohesion, reforms - von der Leyen

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 17 - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday announced that she has proposed six executive vice presidents for the new EU executive, including Italy's Raffaele Fitto.
    Fitto will be the executive vice president for cohesion and reforms, von der Leyen told a press conference.
    The six top roles will go to Spain's Teresa Ribera, Finland's Henna Virkkunen, France's Stéphane Séjourné, Estonia's Kaja Kallas, Romania's Roxana Minzatu as well as Fitto, Italy's European affairs minister who is responsible for the implementation of the EU-funded post-Covid National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
    "Raffaele Fitto will be responsible for policies of cohesion, regional development and cities", von der Leyen told the press conference.
    "He will bring his great experience to modernize and strengthen investments for cohesion and policies of growth.
    "Italy is a very important country and this must also be reflected in our choice.
    "The European Parliament has 14 vice presidents, two are from ECR", she went on to say, referring to the Conservative group to which Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI), of which Fitto is a heavyweight, belongs.
    "I drew the consequences for the Commission's composition", added von der Leyen.
    Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday congratulated Fitto for his appointment as "executive vice president of the European Commission with a portfolio for cohesion and reforms.
    "An important recognition that confirms the regained central role of our nation within the EU.
    "Italy finally returns to be a protagonist in Europe", Meloni wrote on social media.
    "We are certain you will fulfil your role extremely well in the interest of Europe and Italy", added the premier. And commenting the announcement on X, Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote that the "appointment of Raffaele Fitto as executive vice president of the EU Commission is excellent news that confirms the credibility and the role of relevance that Italy undertakes and will continue to have in Europe!", hailing it as a "government's success". (ANSA).