Meloni says stepping down as ECR president

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 15 - Premier Giorgia Meloni announced on Sunday that she was stepping down as the president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group that her right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party belongs to.
    "When I was asked to extend my term until the (EU) elections (in June), I agreed," Meloni told the FdI's Atreju festival in Rome.
    "Now that the elections have taken place, I think I have fulfilled my duty and I want to announce that I am going to resign as president of the European Conservatives".
    She said the group "deserves to have a president who can deal with it full time".
    Meloni added that she expected former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki of the Law and Justice (PiS) party to run and would back him if he did. (ANSA).