League leader Matteo Salvini said
Friday his rightwing party will file a censure motion against
European Commission President Ursual von der Leyen for vowing to
treat Italy like Hungary and Poland if the League and ally
Brothers of Italy (FdI) as expected win Sunday's Italian
elections and introduce nationalist policies and threaten civil
rights - though an EC spokesman said his boss had not meddled in
Italian elections and only referred to procedures against the
other two countries.
The EC on several occasions has censured Hungarian Premier
Viktor Orban and Poland's ruling Law and Justice party for
rule-of-law and rights issues, levying sanctions against them
unless they came fully back into line with the EU's democratic
values.
The League and Fdi last week abstained in a European Parliament
vote saying that Hungary under Orban was no longer a fully
functioning democracy, but an autocracy.
Orban is a key ally of the two Italian parties while Law and
Justice sits in the EP conservative caucus chaired by FdI leader
Giorgia Meloni, along with Spain's far right Vox party.
Meloni, who is poised to become Italy's first woman premier and
the most rightwing since the Second World War, has often praised
the policies of Orban and her Polish allies.
Von der Leyen said Thursday that if the general election ushers
in an autocratic, nationalist and Euroskeptic shift then "we
have the instruments, as in the cases of Poland and Hungary."
However, she added that "we are ready to work with any
democratic government that is disposed to work with us".
Salvini branded her statement as squalid and arrogant meddling
in Italian domestic politics.
Announcing the censure motion against von der Leyen Friday,
Salvini said "it is a squalid threat, an invasion of the field
that was not requested."
He said "the lady represents all Europeans, her salary is paid
by all of us, and it was a disgusting and arrogant threat.
"The League's EP group will file a motion of censure".
Salvini added: "On Sunday Italians are voting, not Brussels
bureaucrats, and if I were the president of the EU Commission I
would be (more) worried about energy bills".
EC spokesman Eric Mamer on Friday denied Salvini's charge of
interfering in the Italian elections saying "I think it is
absolutely clear that President von der Leyen did not intervene
in the Italian elections and referred to ongoing procedures in
other countries".
Meloni has assured Italy's international partners that under hew
lead Italy will cleave to EU and NATO positions and will
continue to back Ukraine in its defence against the Russian
invasion.
But she has also voiced Euroskeptic views as well as railing
against immigrants and alleged gay and woke lobbies, and
promising to give women an alternative to abortion.
The 45-year-old plain-speaking working class Roman unmarried
mother has stressed her identity as a Christian mother and is
campaigning under the slogan God, family and fatherland.
She has also endorsed the 'great replacement' theory positing
the substitution of white nationals by Muslim immigrants.
Though her party has post-Fascist roots she has stressed that it
shares values and policies with Britain's Tories and US
Republicans.
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