Candidacy for the European elections
Giorgia Meloni wants to go from Rome to Brussels. Or not?
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (M)
© Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via ZUMA Press / DPA
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is running in the European elections. But running for office without really wanting the parliamentary seat is a common – but controversial – practice in Italy.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will join her right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers Italy) as the top candidate in the European elections in June. “I have decided to run to lead the lists of the Brothers of Italy in all electoral districts,” Meloni said on Sunday at a major rally for her party in Pescara on the Adriatic.
However, the top candidacy does not mean that the 47-year-old politician, who has been in power since October 2022, will move from Rome to Brussels. Opposition leader Elly Schlein from the social democratic PD and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (Forza Italia) are also running as top candidates – without it being expected that they want to become members of the European Parliament. By setting up their bosses as driving forces, the Italian parties want to mobilize more voters. The former President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, recently strongly criticized this practice.
Meloni party strong in European election polls
In a survey published on Sunday in the newspaper “La Stampa”, the Fratelli d’Italia came to more than 27 percent. Forza Italia, founded by the late media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, achieved 8.7 percent, while Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini’s right-wing Lega achieved 8.5 percent. The latter recently made headlines because it sent former General Roberto Vannacci, who was controversial because of homophobic and racist statements, into the race as an independent candidate.
Meloni announced that after her success in Italy in 2022, the left would also be sent into opposition in Europe. Since she took office, Italy has once again become a “protagonist in Europe” and has had a significant influence on migration policy. At the same time, Meloni committed to continuing to support the Ukrainian people “against Vladimir Putin’s neo-Soviet imperialism.”