Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been eyeing Brussels for months. Having consolidated his power in Italy, with a stable Executive without a prominent opposition, he aims to expand his influence in the European Union. He intends to do so by building a formidable personal relationship with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen – something that has generated stares from Paris and Berlin – and also by striving to present himself to Italians as a leader with a voice that it is heard in the EU, with results such as the agreement with Tunisia to slow the outflow of migrants.
The objective is clear: that the European group that she chairs, that of the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR, for its acronym in English), will be at the heart of a conservative majority in the next European Parliament born from the community elections in June. Meloni is determined that her group – which already has formations such as Vox or the Poles of Law and Justice (PiS) as members – will end up being the third force in the Eurochamber behind the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Partit European Socialist (PSE), and ahead of the Renew liberals and their far-right rivals, Identity and Democracy (ID), which includes the parties of Matteo Salvini (League) and Marine Le Pen (National Group).
Meloni’s latest signing could help her with the campaign. The parliamentary group of the ECR has just set foot in France for having welcomed MEP Nicolas Bay, from the Reconquesta party of the ultra-French Éric Zemmour, among its ranks. Bay, a former representative of Le Pen’s party, left it to join Reconquesta and, after a season in the non-affiliated group, is now a member of the ECR. Although Zemmour’s formation is not officially part of the ECR, the entry of its MEP is a clear political signal that it will eventually be.
“The group of Conservatives and Reformists is our natural family, to fight against illegal immigration, to defend the identity of Europe, to defend a balance between ecology and economic needs and national sovereignty, but also to fight against LGBT propaganda and woke propaganda,” said Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the head of the Reconquest list for the community elections. The alliance is also family, because it is no secret that Marine Le Pen’s niece is married to Vincenzo Sofo, an MEP from Brothers of Italy.
With her at the head of the campaign, Zemmour aspires to get six or seven MEPs, a spoil that would increase the strength of the ECR pending the confirmation of another key membership, that of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz. The Hungarian prime minister, an orphan in Europe since leaving the EPP after a long disagreement, has indicated that he intends to join the ECR after the elections. Those of Meloni are currently opting for caution and indicate that Fidesz has not yet submitted a formal request.
Nicola Procaccini, exponent of Germans d’Italia and co-president of the ECR group, explains to La Vanguardia that what they want is to “bring the right to the center and bring the center to the right”. In other words, “that parties like Reconquesta can have a more pragmatic approach and at the same time that the more centrist parties are more determined in the defense of national interests”. “Clearly our privileged interlocutors are the PPE, with whom we vote on most laws, but also a large part of the delegations of Identity and Democracy and some of Renew, with whom we agree, for example, in the farmers’ protest against the green pact “, assures Procaccini.
The question is difficult. With four months to go before the EU vote, the additions could undermine the moderate image that Meloni has been trying to foster in Brussels for some time. The new leader of the Liberals, Valérie Hayer, of Emmanuel Macron’s party, has already made it clear that with Zemmour the ECR has crossed a “red line”. Meloni’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, leader of Forza Italia since Silvio Berlusconi’s death last year, has also said that he does not share “a single word of what Zemmour says”.
