.jpg)
Europe
Meloni, Le Pen rift mars far right's prospects of
wielding EU power
By Michel
Rose, Elizabeth Pineau and Angelo Amante
March 29,
20246:13 AM GMT+1Updated 2 days ago
Summary
EU Parliament election in June could see big
gains for far-right
Despite momentum, EU far right groups unlikely to
unite- sources
Meloni and Le Pen's divergent strategies central
to the divide
Meloni's EU collaboration strategy could reduce
Le Pen influence
PARIS/ROME,
March 29 (Reuters) - When a French minister compared Italy's nationalist Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni last year to the leader of the French far right, the
Italian premier rang French President Emmanuel Macron to complain.
Meloni was
so incensed that the French leader felt compelled to send an emissary to Rome
to appease her, said two sources with knowledge of the conversations.
The Italian
premier's message to Macron was clear, according to one of the sources: she was
no Italian version of Marine Le Pen.
Both
Macron's and Meloni's office declined to comment on the incident, which has not
been previously reported.
Meloni's
anger illustrates the depth of divisions within Europe's nationalist right that
may stymie its efforts to wield power at an EU level despite record support
ahead of European parliament elections in June, according to half a dozen
sources with knowledge of their parties' strategy.
Polls
predict that Europe's nationalist and eurosceptic parties will win a record
number of votes in June. Voters are expected to punish mainstream parties for
failing to shield households from high inflation, curb immigration and deliver
decent housing and healthcare.
A model
constructed by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a policy think
tank, using polls from EU countries forecast in January that a populist right
coalition of the Christian democrats, conservatives and radical right could, in
theory, emerge with a ruling majority in the European parliament for the first
time.
But the
prospect of a single, muscular bloc encompassing the far-right emerging is slim
amid stark differences between its leading figures, Meloni and Le Pen, the
sources told Reuters.
Meloni de
facto leads the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping
within the parliament, while Le Pen is a driving force in the more overtly
anti-EU Identity and Democracy (ID).
A merger
between their two groups at the European parliament is highly unlikely because
Meloni's strategy, now she's in power, is to maximise Italian influence within
Europe by collaborating with EU institutions, not fighting them, the sources
said.
Advertisement
· Scroll to continue
Le Pen, by
contrast, is intent on demonstrating that "Macron's Europe", as she
calls it, is failing common folks - even if she says she no longer advocates a
French exit from the EU.
"What
Meloni really wants is to form a coalition of the right at the European
parliament to be in a pivotal position," Nicolas Bay, a French member of
the European parliament, told Reuters. His party, Reconquete, a French
far-right rival of Le Pen's, struck an alliance with Meloni last month.
The lack of
a single, coherent policy platform will weaken the far right's influence on
matters ranging from trade relations with China to Europe's response to the war
in Ukraine, climate policy and immigration, analysts say.
Influence
within the European parliament is vital for the composition of the European
Commission - the bloc's executive body which also has the responsibility of
initiating EU legislation. The legislature has become more fragmented and
uncertain as mainstream parties have lost ground in EU elections over the last
decade.
Jean-Paul
Garraud, the leader of Le Pen's troops at the European parliament, accused the
ECR of favoring Ukraine joining the EU, the sharing of migrants across European
countries, and of trade deals that harm Europe's agricultural sector.
"We
have always stood against all these points," he told Reuters.
On their
website, ECR say they want a Europe that's "safe and secure",
"an immigration system that works", "all member states treated
equally" and that they "stand with Ukraine". A spokesperson
declined further comment.
UNLIKELY MERGER
Across
Europe, the far right is gaining momentum.
In France,
Le Pen is polling 12 points ahead of Macron, while Germany's Alternative for
Germany (AfD) lies in second place nationwide. The Dutch Freedom Party won
November's election by a surprise margin, and Portugal's Chega this month
quadrupled its number of parliamentary seats.
Chega, the
Freedom Party and AfD belong to ID, which is dominated by Le Pen's
Rassemblement National party (RN). Surveys show the bloc is third in voting
intentions behind the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and
centre-left Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
Narrowly
trailing ID is the Meloni-led ECR, which houses Poland's former ruling PiS
party.
Polls
suggest an alliance between the two would leave Europe's hard right in
contention to become the leading political force in the next European
parliament, ahead of the conservative EPP, which has dominated it in recent
decades.
That would
unleash a political earthquake. Leadership of the EU's powerful executive, the
European Commission, should be handed to the parliament's largest group.
But
political insiders on both sides of the Alps say Meloni's decision to keep Le
Pen at bay will prevent that.
"There
have been positions that did not bring convergence between Le Pen and European
conservatives," Giovanni Donzelli, a senior executive of Brothers of Italy
and close Meloni confident told Reuters, citing foreign policy and family
issues.
TOXIC REPUTATION
Meloni's
rapid ascent to power was closely tied to the transformation of her Brothers of
Italy party, which moved into the mainstream without fully repudiating its
post-fascist roots.
Since she
swept to power in 2022, becoming Italy's most-right wing leader since wartime
dictator Benito Mussolini, she has compared her party to the U.S. Republican
Party and Britain's Conservatives.
Meloni has
during her premiership sought to reassure markets and international partners,
adopting a pro-business, pro-trade approach to the economy and offering
steadfast support to Ukraine and trans-Atlantic relations.
Rather than
bashing the European Commission on Europe's swelling migrant numbers, Meloni
has co-opted the support of its president, Ursula von der Leyen, as she places
Italy centre stage in Europe's response to the crisis.
A French
diplomat, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue,
said Meloni's strategy was to be at the heart of the game in Europe and seek a
strong economic portfolio in the next Commission.
Her actions
set her apart from Le Pen's more protectionist rhetoric on the economy as well
as the French politician's past ties to Russia and her more ambiguous support
for Ukraine.
On
Saturday, Le Pen challenged the Italian premier to clarify whether she would
back von der Leyen, a member of the EPP, for a second term.
"I
think you will. And by doing so, you will contribute to worsening the policies
the people of Europe are suffering from so much," she told ID delegates in
Rome.
ECR
co-head, Nicola Procaccini, told Italian newspaper Il Tempo that Le Pen's
comments were "inappropriate" and defended cooperation with the EPP
as a means of countering Macron and the European left. An ECR spokesperson
declined further comment.
Whilst Le
Pen's popularity is fast growing at home, her brand remains toxic among
Brussels policymakers and, crucially, amongst German conservatives, French and
Italian diplomatic sources said.
EPP chief
Manfred Weber has made it clear to Meloni he could not accept an alliance with
ECR if it was home to Le Pen and her party, the two diplomatic sources said.
The
conservative German lawmaker is in close contact with Meloni to include ECR or
parts of it in the wider parliament coalition that would back the next European
Commission and its president, they said. He has set pro-EU and pro-Ukraine
conditions for a deal.
A
spokesperson for Weber said, as EPP group leader, he was in regular exchange
with EU leaders, including Meloni, regardless of their parties.
"The
Italian government is involved in the EU in a spirit of cooperation, for
example in talks with North African states on the issue of migration or in
supporting Ukraine," he said.
RIGHTWARDS SHIFT
The ECFR
said in its January report that an alliance of the EPP and ECR would see a
rightwards shift in EU decision-making on matters such as immigration, climate
change and family. But the tack to the right would be less pronounced than it
would were the ID in alliance.
Le Pen has
rowed back on calls to exit the EU but remains a fervent eurosceptic. Her party
argues for a reform of EU treaties that would deprive the European Commission
of its power to initiate legislation and turn the EU into a loose cooperation
of member states.
Three
diplomats and experts said Meloni was probably calculating how she would obtain
the greatest leverage on the shape of the next European Commission.
Le Pen's RN
is likely to have a larger contingent of European lawmakers than Meloni's
party. If they were in ECR, the Italian leader would lose influence.
"(Le
Pen) is a rival. She has no interest in letting the wolf into the fold,"
said Gilles Ivaldi, a specialist in European far-right parties at Sciences Po
University in Paris.
Meloni's
ECR group has held talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who
maintains close links to Moscow, two European diplomats and an ECR source told
Reuters. Orban's inclusion would bring more heft to ECR without jeopardizing
her leadership.
Le Pen may
find herself winning the biggest share of the vote in France but confined to
the sidelines in Brussels and deprived of any meaningful power at the EU level.
Even so, analysts said many French voters would see a strong Le Pen showing
through a national lens.
"This
would set the tone for the 2027 presidential election and could establish Le
Pen as the potential next French president," researchers at the ECFR
think-tank wrote.
Writing by
Michel Rose; additional reporting by Sarah Marsh in Berlin; Editing by Daniel
Flynn
Our
Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário