The inevitable competition in the center-right in view of the European elections
Facts and strategies of the Brothers of Italy, the League and Forza Italia. Paola Sacchi's note
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni achieves an important result on immigration in the EU, the crucial issue for the executive, alongside that of the scarce resources for the budget maneuver. The opposition remains above all unified by the newspapers of the Elkann, with respect to whom, although naturally not naming them, the Quirinale himself had to express "astonishment" at the representation of President Sergio Mattarella as if he were not the referee, but the opposition of the government.
But now, after Scholz's Germany withdrew the amendments on NGOs, the key to unlocking the informal European Council in Granada, Meloni can say: "Our line has passed, now we need to accelerate, but above all to stop the departures, not to redistribute." I don't feel like saying that we are isolated, it is, instead, the left that is isolated in Europe, with its ideological position."
The bottom line is that there must be an assumption of responsibility by all of Europe. Stefania Craxi, FI senator, president of the Foreign and Defense commission, underlines the "step forward", but also that "now we must move forward with determination". And in any case the Italy-Germany impasse has been overcome. The government moves forward without even the shadow of a real alternative in sight. The left-wing opposition, united only on the no and the hot autumn of protest, is divided on everything, even on the very issue of immigration, with the Five Star Movement further to the right than Elly Schlein's PD. And for Meloni there are also words of applause from the new US ambassador to Italy, Jack Markell, who in yesterday's Corriere della sera not only reiterated that the pudding test was largely passed, but also praised the "energy" of the Italian Prime Minister with the EU on the migration issue.
Markell yesterday also met at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport with deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, owner of the ministry and leader of that League, which has always voted unitedly with FdI and FI for aid to Ukraine, but which is still today represented by 'paper' opposition with a nebulous “pro-Putinist” stereotype. According to a note from MIT, he spoke with US Ambassador Salvini "about the political and international situation and in particular the Infrastructure dossier, starting from the Strait Bridge". All in a climate in which "friendship and collaboration" was reiterated. And Salvini hoped for an "institutional mission" in the USA, where there are many leading Italian companies in the transport sector.
Obviously, Ukraine and reconstruction will also have been discussed at MIT. Yesterday the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto (FdI), replied to his fellow Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, leader of FI, fresh from his visit to Ukraine where he had announced the eighth "package", that the resources for military aid are not unlimited, otherwise our defense is put at risk. But it was Meloni herself who reiterated the line of moving forward with aid precisely for our safety. And, in any case, Tajani himself, who applauds the resolution of the impasse with Germany, also recently reiterated at the three-day event in Paestum that there can be no agreement, "without justice" for Ukraine. Although the center-right majority realizes that another phase of Putin's war has now opened. Meloni therefore reiterates that "it is right to support Ukraine", but "with attention to the consequences for public opinion".
But this is a decisive matter in foreign policy, on which the real and deep splits are all on the left. While the center-right is now dealing with a certainly not easy phase in view of the European elections and also of some important administrative and regional elections (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Piedmont, Sardinia, Umbria) in 2024. Today there will be a first coalition summit on the regional elections. The framework for the European Championships will inevitably be that of collaboration-competition. And also with regard to the other elections, it is a bit funny to hear a certain media narrative that blames Salvini, for example, of trying to recover the votes lost to the advantage of FdI. Mischievous observers point out that if the European agreement proceeds, the line of the harder League would be weakened compared to its allies. But, be that as it may, the centre-right, despite its problems, objectively has a unity on immigration and the rest, which is then expressed with different nuances, which the opposition certainly does not have.
And then, to return to Salvini or Tajani, have we ever seen leaders who go on an election campaign so as not to win consensus, especially in the European elections where they run on proportional representation?
Meanwhile, tensions are high, with the CSM divided between the government and the magistrate Iolanda Apostolico who has chosen to disapply the Cutro decree. Salvini posted a video this morning where Apostolico appears among the protesters for the disembarkation of migrants from the "Diciotti" ship.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/centrodestra-competizione-elezioni-europee/ on Thu, 05 Oct 2023 06:09:13 +0000.