The possible pacts with the far-right in the European sphere after the elections of June 9 strained yesterday the last great debate between the candidates of the major political groups organized by Eurovision and the European Parliament in the hemicile of Brussels, converted for the occasion into a spectacular television set to try to attract the attention of the public to this appointment.
The call demonstrated once again the ability of the extreme right to dominate discussions, even when they are not present. The groups to which their parties are integrated (Conservatives and Reformists Europeans, CER; and Identity and Democracy, ID) have not elected a common list leader and could not participate in the appointment, but their shadow looming over the almost two hours of discussions, led to the only moments of tension and conditioned the focus of the discussion on issues such as immigration.
“I am ready to work with all the democratic forces but I do not consider CER and ID to be,” said the candidate of the European Socialist Party and current Employment Commissioner, Nicolas Schmit, on the first occasion. “It’s an issue in which we need clarity, not ambiguity”, insisted Schmit, who had been criticized for the silk glove with which he treated his boss, the Christian Democrat Ursula Von der Leyen, a month ago during the Maastricht debate.
Von der Leyen, head of the list of the European People’s Party and the only one of all those present with a real chance of presiding over the Commission in the next legislature, ran away from the study as much as she could, but, confronted by the moderators, she reiterated that she is open to collaborating with parties that respect certain criteria and praised the pro-European profile of Giorgia Meloni, whom she placed within her red lines on who to agree with and who not (here is, for example, the Polish party Right and Justice, or the Hungarian Fidesz).
“Meloni is clearly pro-European and anti-Putin, she has been very clear about this; and is pro rule of law. If this continues, we can offer to work together”, concluded the German Christian Democrat, who until now had avoided speaking clearly about the leader of Brothers of Italy. In the European sphere, unlike other ultra-conservative governments, Meloni has not broken anything. Another thing is their national policies.
When asked about Meloni’s position on the rights of the LGTBIQ community, which he has restricted through various measures, Von der Leyen simply said that his position on these issues is “completely different”. And the Eurochamber, defended the German, “works differently from national Parliaments”. The composition of the future groups “must be seen” and in order to push forward the laws, it is necessary to form large majorities. The Green Pact, he recalled, would not have gone ahead with only the votes of the grand classic coalition.
Also Terry Reintke (Greens), Sandro Gozi (liberals) and Walter Bauer (Unitary Left) attacked Von der Leyen and the EPP for flirting with parties like Vox and leaders like Meloni, Marine Le Pen or Éric Zemmour, and the alliances signed in national scale, which spread like an oil slick across northern and southern Europe. The Government pact achieved by the far-right Geert Wilders in the Netherlands includes, in fact, formations from the Christian Democratic and liberal orbit. “A huge mistake,” conceded Gozi, who defended the Liberals as stalling until June 10 what to do with their Dutch partners after they violated the signed declaration against deals and alignment with the far right.
Within the European far-right family there are also tensions. In the middle of the debate, the group Identity and Democracy announced the expulsion from its ranks of its German partners, Alternative for Germany (AfD). Both Le Pen and Matteo Salvini (La Liga) had already broken with the formation as a result of statements by their candidate, Maximilian Krah, in which he whitewashed the Nazi SS. The growing conflict of AfD, suspected of maintaining links with Russia and China, has become a problem for the presidential aspirations of the Frenchwoman, who is in favor of polishing the image of her party and its European partners.
