The negotiations conducted between the three major groups of the European Council serve «only to facilitate the process here» but « the decision rests with Meloni and the other leaders during the European Council meeting. The only intention, and the only reason why we have prepared this common position, is to facilitate this process. And there is no decision without Prime Minister Meloni ."
This was said by the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk , arriving at the summit of European leaders who in the evening or during the night should give the green light to the appointments for the so-called "top jobs" of the European Union, in particular to the encore of Ursula Von der Leyen at the helm of the Commission .
«One thing is clear: no one respects Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni more than I do. This is a misunderstanding: sometimes we need political platforms to simplify the process,” added Donald Tusk.
Giorgia Meloni yesterday lashed out against the package of appointments resulting from the agreement between the Popolari, Socialists and Liberals . In today's European Council, he could therefore say a resounding no together with Slovakia and Hungary . If you abstain or vote against, little changes.
But if within today's EU Council Meloni's room for maneuver is practically nil, in the plenary session of the European Parliament which will be called upon to ratify the appointments the votes of the FdI MEPs could be decisive .
In the European Council we begin with Ukraine and Zelensky's speech, the point relating to appointments could be dropped at dinner, if not during the night . Giorgia Meloni has only two allies, Viktor Orban and Robert Fico.
But in Europe they know the weight of Italy, the founding country, and EU sources explain that a unanimous consensus will be sought until the end, avoiding at all costs excluding a key country like ours. Something reiterated today by Tusk upon his arrival at the EU Council: "Without Italy there is no Europe". "They want to involve after having decided" , is the reasoning behind the prime minister.
The person trying to patch things up is Antonio Tajani, according to whom it was "a mistake" not to dialogue with Italy first : "The EPP in Italy is in government and is the third party, we must take this into account", he warns, advising us to be " careful to exclude the Conservatives would mean making them go and talk to Le Pen ." In essence, "we need to dialogue with Giorgia Meloni because she shares our positions on Ukraine, the rule of law and immigration."
(Unioneonline/L)