“We cannot ignore Italy,” retorted Giorgia Meloni to her detractors who castigated her refusal to support the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission. A decision with serious consequences that raised fears of Italy’s marginalization within the future Brussels institutions. This will not be the case if we are to believe the German daily The world citing European diplomats and informed sources within the Commission. Raffaele Fitto, Giorgia Meloni’s candidate for future Italian commissioner, would be appointed to the post of executive vice-president for the economy.
A decision that Manfred Weber had anticipated last week during his trip to Rome. The leader of the conservative MEPs of the EPP, the first group in the Strasbourg Parliament that must give its approval to all the nominations of commissioners, declared himself “in favour of assigning a strong role to Italy”. “It is one of the most important countries in the EU,” he continued. “Giorgia Meloni and Antonio Tajani (leader of Forza Italia) received considerable support during the European elections, unlike Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, who were the big losers.”
Political transformism
Raffaele Fitto, the current Italian Minister for European Affairs in charge of the recovery plan, will be the first member of a far-right populist party to become executive vice-president of the Commission, German media worry. “On the contrary, he is the presentable face of Fratelli d’Italia (Giorgia Meloni’s party),” qualifies political scientist Mattia Diletti. “He is anything but radical. He is a notable from southern Italy for whom political transformation is second nature. He came from a long Christian Democrat family tradition before joining Silvio Berlusconi and then Giorgia Meloni. He is known in Brussels for his pragmatism, his seriousness, and he is a personality with whom one can work.”
An opinion also shared in Rome, including within the opposition to Giorgia Meloni, of whom Raffaele Fitto, 55, is one of the closest collaborators. And above all one of her rare competent ministers while the president of the council is sorely lacking a ruling class on which to rely. Raffaele Fitto became the youngest president of the Puglia region in 2000. Close to Silvio Berlusconi, he joined his government in 2008, while the courts were pursuing Fitto in particular in cases of corruption, forgery and illegal financing of political parties. The statute of limitations saved his career, which took off again following his rallying to Giorgia Meloni. The leader of Fratelli d’Italia entrusted him with the delicate mission of implementing the European recovery plan of which Italy was the main beneficiary country. His departure left a big void within the Italian government. The president of the council does not have a personality of her stature to replace him.
The choice of Raffaele Fitto was nevertheless obvious. Giorgia Meloni had no other serious name to submit to Ursula von der Leyen. The future Italian commissioner will not be out of place in Brussels where he has made many contacts. He was in fact a member of the European Parliament until the last Italian legislative elections in 2022, holding the position of co-president of the far-right ECR group led by Giorgia Meloni.
“It was the best solution possible,” says Fulvio Lorefice, a political analyst at FB & Associati. “He is a hard worker, a good negotiator, who knows the intricacies of the European institutions perfectly. He will be able to protect Italy’s interests without coming into conflict with the Commission. His nomination is a prestigious victory for Giorgia Meloni, but it remains to be seen what he will actually be able to do. This will depend both on the portfolio that Ursula von der Leyen gives him and also on the identity of the next American president, which will have consequences for EU policy.”
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