Giorgia Meloni’s Conservatives and Reformists (Ecr), the group to which Fratelli d’Italia belongs, are in all respects part of the alliance that supports Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission. In short, a new majority is emerging in Parliament, ranging from the Greens to the radical right.
The new majority
The leader of the People’s Party in the Community Assembly, Manfred Weber, is convinced of this and has defined this new majority as “his”. “The ECR led to the appointment of Stephane Sejourne and Teresa Ribera as commissioners,” he said in reference to the approval of the French and Spanish commissioners, underlining that “without their vote Ribera would not be in office because a majority of two was required -third parties to do so”. Likewise “all socialist candidates, all liberal candidates, received ECR support in the hearing process”, with the group proving itself “responsible”.
“I, as an EPP, was thinking about a broad center in the European Parliament, from the Greens to the ECR, towards a reasonable part of the conservative forces in the European Parliament. And that is becoming a reality and for me it is a good day,” Weber said in a press conference on the sidelines of the European Chamber plenary in Strasbourg. “My majority – if I may say so – is becoming a reality. And this makes me happy, because we need stability, in a broader sense, in the European Parliament,” he added.
The sanitary cord was broken
In addition to the ECR, the right of the Chamber also includes the Patriots for Europe of Viktor Orban, Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini, and the Europe of the sovereign nations of the German AfD. There has always been a sort of ‘cordon sanitaire’ against these forces in the European Parliament, which closes off any collaboration. But the EPP has already broken this cord, creating what has been called ‘the Venezuelan coalition’, due to the fact that three times so far, two of which on issues related to Venezuela, the People’s Party have managed to pass their measures thanks to the compact support of these forces of the radical right.
