Antonio Tajani was addressing reporters during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, ahead of a leaders’ summit this week intended to settle the lineup at the bloc’s helm following the June 6-9 elections.

“I believe it’s impossible for Italy not to have a commission vice-presidency, and a commissioner with an important portfolio,” Tajani said.

“It’s the minimum our country can expect,” he said.

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Meloni believes the relative success of her hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping – shaping up as the EU parliament’s third force following the elections – should be reflected in the bloc’s leadership.

However the EU’s four top posts look set to be divvied up among the existing alliance dominating the parliament: the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and its partners the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist Renew Europe.

Meloni last week called it “surreal” that the ECR was not considered in the top job nominations — but Tajani’s comments suggest she has settled on a powerful commission vice-presidency as a runner-up prize.

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In an interview with French media at the weekend, Tajani said Italy wanted a “strong commissioner” role, in order to lead a “good European policy in favour of industry and agriculture.”

The vice-president would “of course be committed on climate change, but not in a fundamentalist way,” he said – in a nod to recurring right-wing complaints about EU environmental policies under the outgoing commission.

Vice-presidents – there are currently seven– act on behalf of the European Commission chief, and coordinate work in their area of responsibility, together with several other commissioners.

Current commission head Ursula von der Leyen, of the EPP, is seen returning to the role, with former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa of the S&D tipped as European Council president; and Renew’s Kaja Kallas, the current Estonian premier, as the EU’s foreign policy “high representative”.

Current European Parliament speaker Roberta Metsola, also from the EPP, is seen staying on in her chair.