Before the elections
More excitement in Italy about Berlusconi and von der Leyen
One day before the elections in Italy, nerves are on edge. It’s not just Berlusconi that stirs things up. With a statement, the EU Commission President caused trouble, especially in the right-wing camp.
Immediately before the election Sunday, Silvio Berlusconi’s statements about Vladimir Putin and a comment by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen continued to cause a stir in Italy. The head of the Lega, Matteo Salvini, who, as a small part of a right-wing coalition, is about to win the election, suggested that the German politician should resign.
Von der Leyen was asked by a student on Thursday whether she was worried about an election victory for the right and former Putin friends in Italy – she replied that if EU guidelines were violated, Brussels had “tools”.
This angered right-wing politicians, especially Salvini, who took part in a spontaneous protest on Friday evening in front of the EU Commission’s representation in Rome. Supporters held signs with the words “Shame” and “Ursula out” in their hands. “Was that a threat, blackmail, institutional bullying? The president must either apologize or resign,” Salvini told the Corriere della Sera newspaper (Saturday).
Right-wing nationalist Meloni advises “caution”
Giorgia Meloni, who, as party leader of the right-wing nationalist Fratelli d’Italia, leads the largest single party in the right-wing bloc and thus has a good chance of becoming the future prime minister, said in the direction of von der Leyen: “I advise caution when looking at the credibility of the commissioners and the Commission believes.” A commission spokesman said on Friday that it was “absolutely clear” that von der Leyen had not intervened in Italy’s election campaign.
The third important party in the right-wing alliance is Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. The party founder caused an uproar by claiming that Putin had been pressured into the war against Ukraine and that he wanted to bring “decent people” to power in Kyiv. Berlusconi later explained that his statements had been taken out of context.
Speaking to the newspaper “La Repubblica”, the spokesman for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Serhiy Nikiforov, recalled Putin’s crimes in Ukraine and Syria and his threat to use nuclear weapons. “The former Italian prime minister trusts him and cites him as an example of who is decent and who is not?” Nikiforov asked. “It is important that citizens elect candidates who have the right moral principles.”