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How Italy’s Five Star Movement wants to change EU politics

Italy's Five Star Movement (M5S) wants to team up with like-minded populist parties and form a new grouping within the European Parliament to take power from the traditional left and right, its leader said Sunday.

Published: 29 April 2019 09:37 CEST
How Italy's Five Star Movement wants to change EU politics
Five Star leader and Italian deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio speaking during the European election campaign in Waraw, Poland. Photo: Janek SKARZYNSKI/AFP

“I don't think that the traditional parties have the potential to attain an absolute majority in the European Parliament,” M5S chief Luigi di Maio said.

Speaking at an event in Warsaw with Poland's populist Kukiz'15 movement and Croatia's Zivi Zid (Human Shield) party, Di Maio said the traditional differentiation between politics of the “left” and “right” was “outdated”.

READ ALSO: Luigi Di Maio, the face of Italian populism

“I prefer to distinguish between good and bad ideas,” said Di Maio, who is also Italy's deputy prime minister.

He said his party was open to collaboration with any political movement “that comes up with good proposals.” 

Photo: Janek SKARZYNSKI/AFP

Di Maio's Polish host, the punk-rocker-turned-politician Pawel Kukiz, said his party's slogan for the EU elections would be “Poland in Europe, Europe for Poland” and that the focus of his campaign would be the fight against the “ossified elites”.

“We cannot accept that Europe is in the hands of the European Commission, which in reality serves the interests of two states, a sort of marriage between (French President Emmanuel) Macron and (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel,” he said.

Analysts have said that Italy's populist government — comprised of Di Maio's M5S and the far-right League — is on its last legs, with the two parties split over various issues since taking power last June.

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POLITICS

Italian PM Meloni’s ally gets EU Commission vice president job

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday named Raffaele Fitto, a member of PM Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, executive vice president in the next European Commission, sparking concern among centre-left lawmakers.

Published: 17 September 2024 11:34 CEST
Italian PM Meloni's ally gets EU Commission vice president job

Fitto, 55, will be in charge of “cohesion and reforms” and become one of von der Leyen’s key lieutenants in the European Union’s executive body, despite concerns from EU lawmakers on the left and in the centre.

“He will be responsible for the portfolio dealing with cohesion policy, regional development and cities,” von der Leyen told a press conference.

Writing on X, Meloni called the choice of Fitto, a member of her Brothers of Italy party, “an important recognition that confirms the newfound central role of our nation in the EU”.

“Italy is finally back as a protagonist in Europe,” she added.

Currently Italy’s European affairs minister, Fitto knows Brussels well and is widely regarded as one of the more moderate faces of Meloni’s government.

But as a member of her party, which once called for Rome to leave the eurozone, his potential appointment to such a powerful post had sparked alarm ahead of von der Leyen’s official announcement.

Centrist French MEP Valerie Hayer described it as “untenable” and Fitto is likely to face a stormy confirmation hearing before the European Parliament.

“Italy is a very important country and one of our founding members, and this has to reflect in the choice,” von der Leyen said of his nomination.

READ ALSO: EU chief to hand economy vice-president job to Italian PM Meloni’s party

Fitto was elected three times to the European Parliament before joining Meloni’s administration in 2022, when was charged with managing Italy’s share of the EU’s vast post-Covid recovery plan.

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