>>>ANSA/Von der Leyen to negotiate directly with Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 25 - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will negotiate directly with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni for the future EU majority, not as leader of the EU Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) but as Italian prime minister, to decide which portfolio will be reserved for Italy in the next European Commission, international media reported Tuesday after an agreement emerged on the EU top jobs between the EC chief's European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists, and the Liberals, whose majority has been confirmed.
    According to German daily FAZ, the EPP negotiators are expected to have talks with Meloni Tuesday afternoon to inform her.
    Von der Leyen and Meloni have good relations and have been on a number of foreign trips together, especially on setting up development projects to stem migration to the EU and bust trafficking gangs.
    They are also linked by a joint strong position on staunch support for UKraine against the Russian aggression and invasion.
    European Affairs, Cohesion, South and Recovery and National Resilience Plan (NRRP) Minister Raffaele Fitto is reportedly Meloni's pick for what she hopes will be a prominent EC position, possibly as one of the vice presidents.
    Earlier Tuesday the EPP reportedly agreed on its long-rumoured trio of von der Leyen at the EC, former Portuguese premier Antonio Costa at the European Council, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy as the three top jobs for the next European legislature.
    Also on Tuesday, Meloni accused the domestic opposition of adopting "violent" methods and defended her government's reforms, including the recently approved law bringing in 'differentiated autonomy'.
    A brawl broke out in the Lower House before the controversial measure, which will enable regions to request more power over how the tax revenues collected in their areas are spent and which critics say will widen the north-south gap, won final approval last week.
    MPs from Meloni's party and the League tried to assault an opposition MP who tried to put an Italian flag around the shoulders of the League minister responsible for the law.
    "We are patriots who know which way to fly the flag," Meloni said on Facebook in a possible reference to opposition MPs holding up Italian flags during protests against the reforms.
    "We are working for all citizens to have the same rights.
    "One M5S (5-Star Movement) MP called for Loreto for me," she said, referring to the Milan square where Benito Mussolini was hung upside down after being killed by Partisans at the end of World War II.
    "And the Left makes blacklists. I think the violent ways of the Left are a desperate defence of the status quo, a defence of privilege that has protected the few, at the expense of the majority of Italians.
    "We have promised to change things. We will go ahead without being intimidated, always in the interest of the nation,'" she concluded, accusing the opposition of using "the irresponsible language of a civil war".
    Opposition parties say differentiated autonomy will worsen Italy's north-south divide, by favouring wealthier regions in the north.
    It is one of several reforms that the opposition are fiercely contesting.
    Another, the government's move to introduce the direct election of the premier by the Italian people, completed its first passage through the Senate a week ago, having already gone through the House.
    Meloni says it will boost democracy and stability, but opposition parties say it could lead to an authoritarian drift.
    The premier said Tuesday that Achille Occhetto, the last secretary of the Italian Communist Party and the first leader of the PDS, a forerunner of the current centre-left Democratic Party (PD), had wanted a reform of this kind 30 years ago, putting him ahead of current PD chief Elly Schlein.
    Most of the Italian opposition parties staged a rally in Rome last Tuesday to "defend national unity" in the face of these reforms and also to protest against alleged "violence and intimidation" by the ruling coalition after an M5S MP needed medical attention following the above-mentioned brawl.
    Eleven MPs were suspended over the ugly scenes, with League MP Igor Iezzi getting the longest ban, 15 days, for allegedly trying to land punches. (ANSA).