Negotiations on European Affairs
Minister Raffaele Fitto as Italy's nominee to be its member of
the next EU executive are ongoing and there are no "red lines
but priorities", well-informed sources in the Socialists and
Democrats group in the European Parliament told reporters on
Thursday.
"We don't understand why a government that has clearly said it
wasn't supporting Ursula von der Leyen could have a role like
ours or that of members" of the EPP and Liberal groups, the
sources noted.
"Von der Leyen is president thanks to pro-EU forces", they
added, and "it's not understandable to have an executive vice
president from ECR", the conservative group of which Fitto's
party is a member.
"But we will be responsible.
"Fitto will have to prove to Parliament if he is pro-EU and will
need to be prepared", they added.
Fitto, a senior figure in Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, has been reported as the likely
recipient of the key post of Economy Vice President, which would
put him in charge of overseeing the EU's post-pandemic Recovery
Fund.
The appointment would vindicate Meloni's assertion that Italy
will have an important post in the new EU executive despite FdI
MEPs voting against von der Leyen getting a second term at the
helm of the EU executive in July after June's EU elections.
Meloni was irked that the Conservative ECR group FdI belongs to
and which she chairs was left out of the negotiations for the EU
top jobs.
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