Low turnout sign EU is distant from citizens - Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 10 - Premier Giorgia Meloni said Monday that the low turnout in the European elections in Italy and other countries indicated that the EU institutions had become too distant from the people.
    In Italy less than half of the electorate exercised their right to vote.
    "The high level abstentionism in the European elections opens up a debate about the role of Europe, because the issue of the low turnout does not only regard Italy, but the whole continent," Meloni, whose right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party won over 29% of the vote here, told Rtl 102.5 radio.
    "It is a sign that Europe is perceived as distant and has made policies that the citizens don't agree with.
    "This is seen by the fact that the alternative forces to the Left are growing throughout Europe".
    She said the good performance of right-wing and conservative parties was "a call for more pragmatic policies that are less ideological and in some cases crazy, for example, those on the Green Deal.
    "We need a Europe that is more capable of listening to citizens and less intrusive in people's lives," she said. (ANSA).