A silent and cold Giorgia Meloni. Certainly not at ease about the start of negotiations on the appointments at the informal dinner between the heads of state and government of the 27 EU countries. The names on the table remain those of Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola in the European Parliament, Antonio Costa in the Council and Kaja Kallas High Representative for Foreign Policy. Meloni must decide whether or not to vote for von der Leyen. Her help would not be numerically decisive, but it would help the current president to secure a higher number of votes for her nomination. In exchange, the appointment of Elisabetta Belloni as commissioner could come. In the meantime, however, his ally Viktor Orbán is sounding the charge. And he calls for uniting the forces of the European right to fight “against the bureaucrats in favor of immigration and war”.
EU appointments
Behind Meloni’s coldness there is the feeling that everything is being decided without her. Before the summit of the 27 the Socialist negotiators met the Liberals. The latter then met the Popolari. And everyone else was annoyed. Melons included. The Prime Minister arrived in Brussels aware of the risk of finding herself in front of a table already set. But if, in theory, Meloni can easily secure FdI’s votes in the European Chamber for Ursula, giving the green light would be more problematic for Costa. On the negotiating table there is a powerful commissioner, with the title of vice president. Another name that he gets around is that of Daniele Franco, who from the Roman buildings is given pole position in case of delegation to the Competition. In the ECR, not surprisingly, they would also have preferred to wait for the French elections and perhaps a greater rearrangement in the EP.
The Italian Prime Minister
In fact, many predict (and hope) that the Liberal group will lose some delegations, starting with that of the former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis. The leaders’ dinner is preceded by a series of negotiators’ meetings. And from the feeling on the part of the other leaders that there was “a lack of respect”, explain European diplomatic sources. The Corriere della Sera he says that the prime minister wanted to see France’s match at the European Championships. «As far as I’m concerned, the method is wrong, I’m not willing to accept a pre-packaged package of appointments. The solutions being discussed have not been agreed upon with everyone. But above all it makes no sense to talk about names before carrying out a serious and in-depth analysis of the vote.”
A majority without Melons
The Prime Minister’s reference is addressed to negotiators such as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who told the press that a sufficient majority “exists even without Meloni’s votes”. But the prime minister also had to say no to Orbán. That she would have liked to join his group. But the disadvantages are more than the disadvantages. Even if Meloni is trying to increase Ecr’s numbers. Precisely to overtake the liberals and become the third European group by attendance. This explains the late-night exit of the Hungarian prime minister: «The will of European citizens was ignored today in Brussels. The result of the European elections is clear: the right-wing parties have strengthened, the left and the liberals have lost ground. The EPP, instead of listening to the voters, in the end allied itself with the socialists and the liberals: today they made an agreement and divided the EU leadership positions”, he wrote in a tweet.
The Orbán temptation
And again: «They don’t care about reality, they don’t care about the results of the European elections and they don’t care about the will of European citizens. We must not be naive: they will continue to support immigration and send even more money and weapons to the war between Russia and Ukraine. We won’t give up on this! We will unite the forces of the European right and fight against the bureaucrats in favor of immigration and war”, she concluded. But the Hungarian’s entry into the ECR would have too many negative consequences. You are judged as unpresentable by many members, from the Belgians to the Finns. Who threatened abandonment if she entered.
