Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government is more isolated than ever at EU level, an EU MP from Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S) party revealed, according to Euractiv.
M5S MEP Valentina Palmisano (The Left) said her ECR group “is under scrutiny in Europe.”
The parties that make up Meloni’s government majority are increasingly isolated in Europe. Not only is Ursula von der Leyen snubbing them, but she has also stated she will not negotiate their programme.
Italy’s ruling coalition consists of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (ECR), Forza Italia (EPP), and national-oriented Matteo Salvini’s Lega (Patriots for Europe).
The ECR group of Meloni asked to chair the committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). However, progressive EU groups (S&D, Renew, Greens, EU Left and part of EPP) promised to do “the utmost” to prevent them from getting it.
This shows that Europe does not trust the Meloni government, and rightly so. It would have been absurd to assign the parliamentary committee responsible for fighting corruption to those who vote in Italy to remove the crime of abuse of office with the Nordio bill.
The Nordio law, approved on Wednesday, introduces significant changes to the Italian judicial system. It abolishes the offence of abuse of office, changes the offence of trafficking in influence, and limits the publication of wiretaps by journalists.
Italy’s former PM and head of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), Giuseppe Conte, also spoke out on X.
For a Sicilian leader of the Brothers of Italy, the M5S MEP Giuseppe Antoci “once again persists in talking about the Nebrodi mafia” and “has not lost the bad habit of tarnishing” Sicily because he denounces the interests of the underworld. I ask Brothers of Italy: do those who denounce the mafia or those who attack the people who fight against the mafias tarnish the territory? Hats off to Antoci, who suffered a mafia attack for his battles against the clans, risking his life together with the men of his escort.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasised on Wednesday that “there will be no structural co-operation with the ECR group.” In her meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday with S&D and Renew, she presented her programme, listened to their demands, and tried to reach an agreement to win their support for the July 18 vote.
Meloni, who had never explicitly stated whether she would support von der Leyen’s second term in the EU parliament vote, nevertheless repeated several times that Italy should be recognised in a role “that rightfully belongs to us without begging for it.”
