Agriculture, Budget and Petitions. These are the three presidencies (out of 20) obtained by Giorgia Meloni’s Reformists and Conservatives group in the European Parliament committees. Even if Fratelli d’Italia did not place any of its elected representatives in the highest office, it did win a slew of vice-presidencies. The spokesman for Fratelli d’Italia in Brussels, Nicola Procaccini, celebrated the day as an unprecedented victory. His thanks are addressed to the center-right of the European People’s Party, which supported their candidacies using the secret ballot. The “Ursula 2.0” majority thus immediately shows its double face.
Officially, the People’s Party, Socialists and Liberals govern, with the external support of the Greens. In fact, the EPP of Mandred Weber and Antonio Tajani aims to place some reforms with the support of the Melonian far-right, increasingly less isolated in Brussels. The positions of European power continue to remain closed to the Patriots for Europe of Viktor Orban and Marine Le Pen and to the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ENS). No nominations for the two new far-right groups, despite counting on a few more MEPs than the Conservatives. In addition to issues relating to authoritarianism and the rule of law, the ambiguous relationship with Russia and China weighs heavily, as demonstrated by the Hungarian president’s ‘peace tour’. For them, the cordon sanitaire remains in place, but how long will it last?
Procaccini’s “tattoo”
“Today at the European Parliament we voted to elect the presidents and vice-presidents of the committees. The red and green left tried 13 times to oppose our candidates. Sometimes with just one vote, sometimes with a larger margin: they lost 13 times”, wrote Nicola Procaccini, spokesperson for Fratelli d’Italia in Europa, on X. “I thank all my colleagues from the centre-right for supporting us and I wish the best to our 13 elected members. I’m going to get the number 13 tattooed”, added the Fdi representative. The three presidencies obtained by the conservatives are that of the Budget, where the Belgian Johan Van Overtveldt (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie) was elected.
Today in the European Parliament we voted for the election of the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Committees. The red and green leftists tried 13 times to buck our candidates. Sometimes by a single vote, sometimes by a larger margin: they lost 13 times. I would like to thank all my… pic.twitter.com/EePUvKx23L
—Nicola Procaccini (@NProcaccini) July 23, 2024
Czech Veronika Vrecionová was elected to Agriculture. Finally, Polish Bogdan Rzońca is the new president of the Petitions Committee. The latter should not be underestimated, since it is where legislative proposals based on initiatives by European citizens pass. For example, we recall the petition on the ban on cages for birds in intensive farming and the one on the protection of bees that had prompted a review of the pesticide regulation (then buried by von der Leyen).
The charges for Brothers of Italy
The Italians from Fratelli d’Italia (Ecr) who obtained vice-presidency positions are Alberico Gambino (Foreign Affairs Committee and Subcommittee on Security and Defense); Pietro Fiocchi (Environment, Public Health and Food Safety), Elena Donazzan (Industry, Research and Energy), Francesco Ventola (Regional Development), Milazzo (Fishing) and Mario Mantovani (Legal Affairs Committee). A considerable haul, if added to the two vice-presidencies of the Parliament during last week’s plenary session, one of which was held by the Italian Sberna. In the previous legislature, the conservatives had only had one vice-president and chaired the Budget Committee.
Orban’s Patriots Punished
The ECR group is thus taking further steps outside the “sanitary cordon”, which, even if only partially, had been tightened around it, in particular due to the presence in its ranks of the Polish Law and Justice party, which in this mandate has instead passed to the Patriots of Bardella and Vannacci. The political group founded by Orban has protested, contesting this method that excludes them despite the 84 seats won in the last European elections. After the blow dealt by the EU’s High Diplomat Josep Borrell, who snatched an important summit of Foreign Ministers in Budapest, the parliamentary groups have also decided to scold Orban and the far-right parties gathered around him.
Meloni gains credit in Europe
Giorgia Meloni, who is the president of the conservatives, comes out on top from the elections for the positions. The prime minister, at least in Europe, has invested in these two years to gain credibility as a moderate. Ursula von der Leyen has not included her in the negotiations for top jobs, nor officially in her majority, but the Italian prime minister has now placed her pawns in the power centers of the European institutions and her conservatives could be decisive on some dossiers (agriculture, defense and migration in the first place).
The Five Star Movement’s adhesion to The Left is bearing its first fruits
There has been no shortage of controversy over the seats placed by ECR. The Greens protested the election of Swedish Charlie Weimers as vice-president of Civil Liberties, accused of racism. The secret ballot was decisive for the conservatives’ elections to the committees, a method that rewarded them for their efforts. The popular deputies, able to vote freely and avoiding public scrutiny, supported them. With all due respect to the official majority wanted by von der Leyen.
