From a Europe "at risk of irrelevance" to a European budget that risks "a new capital tax," including a defense of the principle of unanimity for Brussels' decisions ("it's a guarantee"), a "no" to a single European army, the hope that certain matters can be returned to individual member states ("competences are not irreversible"), and a call to "throw away the Green Deal."
Speaking from the stage at the Cernobbio Forum, Roberto Vannacci, leader of Futuro Nazionale, took several jabs, both at former Prime Minister Mario Monti, sitting next to him, and at European Council President Antonio Costa, who opened the second day at Villa d'Este this morning. The first issue, he said, was the low birth rate: "Rather than a ReArm Europe, perhaps a ReBorn Europe would have been better, because with these birth rates, a future isn't guaranteed." The general began from afar, from the Maastricht Treaties, and provocatively asked the Cernobbio audience: "If we were to take a blank sheet of paper today, would we rewrite them the same way?" From there, he questioned "the inertia that always exists in changing the European architecture." The Eurozone "once produced 30% of global GDP, today about half. There is industrial desertification and layoffs in the automotive industry." If, after 30 years of integration, the Old Continent "has lost competitiveness, we cannot prescribe the same medicine without explaining why it hasn't worked until now."
Vannacci repeatedly emphasizes Europe's fragmentation in energy, taxation, markets, and financial services, while criticizing the single currency and environmental transition . He calls increasing gas imports from Russia while supporting Ukraine a "contradiction." From here, he launches his vision of Europe, where if it isn't there, everything is in ruins, and calls for "a return to the sovereignty" of individual states. He also criticizes the debate on the next European budget, which must not translate "into more money for Europe, otherwise it will be a new tax that we, the citizens, will pay." In his vision of the European Union, he repeatedly insists, "we will not accept forms of subordination," and defends unanimity as a principle: "It's a guarantee. If a proposal doesn't convince everyone, don't change the voting method, but improve the proposal." And here he invokes the concept of "subsidiarity, doing well together what we can do," but "we'll do the rest at home," because "the powers assigned to Brussels so far must not become irreversible." His summary thus appears succinct: "Europe risks becoming irrelevant." The idea of a European army has also been rejected from his perspective: "It hasn't taken off, and badly." His proposal, then, is for an EU that "eliminates useless institutions, bureaucracy, and throws the Green Deal overboard because it needs technological diversification."
