The European People’s Party (EPP) wanted to celebrate. The recent appointment of Conservative Ulf Kristersson as Prime Minister in Sweden is seen as the first of other future victories – they also have that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in Spain – that will cement the People’s Party as the most important force in Europe and as a “political party”. the winner,” said its chairman, the German Manfred Weber. But in this one came Silvio Berlusconi with his speech in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin while questioning the military and political strategy of the EU and NATO in Ukraine. Some statements that, like a pitcher, manifested themselves at the meeting that the EPP held in Brussels this Thursday, just before the summit of heads of state and government, where embarrassment manifested itself despite attempts to mark distances between Berlusconi and his fallen at the cold end of the party, Forza Italia, a member of the coalition led by far-right Giorgia Meloni.
To dispel doubts, a serious Antonio Tajani, coordinator of Forza Italia and aspiring to become Meloni’s foreign minister, came to the meeting on the sidelines of the European summit and emphatically reiterated the principles that the EPP espouses as “red lines”. to which each formation in its ranks must conform.
“I reaffirm our position, my party’s position, the position of my party leader, my personal position, which is totally pro-NATO, pro-transatlantic relations, pro-Europe and against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That’s very clear, there’s no doubt about it,” he said in both English so everyone could understand, and Italian before attending the popular event. According to witnesses at the meeting, the former President of the European Parliament said behind closed doors that the matter with Putin was a “personal” problem for Berlusconi, but not the official line of a party that “has always voted”. in favor of Ukraine,” he reiterated in front of the microphones at the end of the meeting.
Nevertheless, the serious, angry gestures of the participants of the popular summit said more than the official declarations of the institutional representatives who clung to the figure of Tajanis to defend the PPE’s support for Forza Italia’s participation in the coalition government of Rome.
Tajani “guarantees this clear pro-Atlantic and pro-European vision” of Forza Italia, Weber explained. For her part, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, described her predecessor as “a committed European, a committed Atlanticist and an Italian committed to keeping Italy at the heart of Europe”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, also an EPP member, preferred not to comment.
The institutional support of Tajani by the top leaders could not hide the anger of many participants and concerns about the impact Berlusconi’s comments could have on a party in which many members are flirting with possible alliances with extremist and/or pro-Russian parties.
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“I’ll be very open, I think it’s a big problem. There are three basic standards that any party that wants to be in the EPP must meet: it must be pro-European and pro-European, uphold the rule of law, and it must support Ukraine’s struggle for survival, existence and sovereignty. And I’m not sure you can have anyone in the EPP family who doesn’t uphold those pretty core principles,” said Irish Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
“There can be no ambiguity when it comes to Ukraine (…), there can be no ambiguity with Putin. He is not a friend of Europe,” he stressed.
Berlusconi’s words are also a “problem” for the Pole Donald Tusk, the former President of the European Council. “There’s no doubt it’s a problem for Forza Italia and for Berlusconi, but automatically it’s also our problem and we have to discuss it to see how we solve it,” said the former Polish leaders. Meanwhile, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he was very upset with the leak of the audio of the conversation in which Berlusconi spoke about Putin, but acknowledged that the Forza Italia leader’s words “do not add to the line”. the PPE defending a “strong solidarity with Ukraine and a clear condemnation of Russia”.
However, at the end of the meeting, Tajani assured that he had managed to reassure his partners. “There are many speeches, but in politics what matters is what we do and Forza Italia has voted for Ukraine every time,” he said, before repeating that there was “no doubt” about his party’s position. Despite Berlusconi.
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