EU leaders extend their hand to Meloni in the distribution of European positions that arrives closed to the summit

The heads of State and Government of the EU have reached out to the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to count on her support in the distribution of positions at the European leadership that the leaders will discuss this Thursday and Friday and despite their discomfort due to because the list of names has already been agreed upon by the coalition of ‘popular’, socialists and liberals.

The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has sent a reassuring message to his Italian counterpart, reminding her that “there is no Europe without Italy” and no decision without her, although Tusk himself has been one of the ‘popular’ negotiators of the proposal that will mean the renewal of the conservative German Ursula von der Leyen as head of the European Commission, the appointment of the Portuguese socialist António Costa as president of the European Council and the election of the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, as a replacement for Josep Borrell at the head of European diplomacy.

A distribution of senior positions that the three political groups negotiated without taking into account the governments of Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which has provoked criticism from Meloni and the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, who have threatened to oppose the appointments. , although the rest of the capitals insist that a qualified majority is enough to move the agreement forward.

Orbán has been the only leader who has spoken out against an agreement that he has described as “shameful” before the cameras, supported by what he has called a “coalition of lies”, while Meloni has avoided making statements upon his arrival in the Belgian capital.

Tusk, however, has shown himself in statements to the media upon his arrival to be more in favor of having Giorgia Meloni on board, which is why he has sent a conciliatory message by ensuring that the unrest generated in Rome by the three-way agreement is due to a “misunderstanding.”

“I want to make one thing clear: no one respects Meloni and Italy more than me. I think there has been a misunderstanding, because sometimes we need specific political platforms to facilitate the process, but the final decision rests with Meloni and the rest of the leaders during the summit,” the Polish leader stressed. “The only reason has been to facilitate the process, seriously,” he reiterated, to emphasize that “there is no Europe without Italy and no decision without Meloni.”

The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, designated negotiator of the Socialists, has also defended the “facilitating” work of the coalition and the relevance of the agreement between the three forces, because his intention is to “revalidate the same majority that already supported Von der Leyen.” ” in his first term. However, he has also stressed that leaders will discuss it “carefully and fairly” because everyone “is equally important.”

“We know that the Italian Prime Minister will use the summit to assert her points of view,” noted, for his part, the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luis Montenegro, who recalled that within the EU there are points of “convergence.” and confluence” to “approximate positions”, since all capitals “have national interests.

RUTTE AND DE CROO DEFEND A LEGITIMATE AGREEMENT

The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has been less conciliatory, defending that the far-right group of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), in which Meloni’s party is part of the European Parliament, “cannot be part of the coalition” that has negotiated the distribution of positions because it still has “a majority.

Along the same lines, the acting Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, has defended the legitimacy of the distribution agreed between ‘popular’, socialists and liberals because it is the only coalition capable of “working together” in the next five years, in a legislature that needs “political stability” to “be able to act quickly.”

“This is how democracy works, democracy is not just about blocking but about who wants to work together,” he reasoned, and then defended that the names on the masses are “of very high quality” and that in the past five years the EU must To “improve” is to ensure that profiles with a willingness to work together are named.

There are hours of negotiation ahead, in which the leaders will leave space for Meloni to outline his political priorities in areas such as migration, in a conversation of leaders about the political program for the next legislature, trusting that this will help to loosen his position. and give in to the agreement on the ‘Top Jobs’ (according to community jargon), which several diplomatic sources see as possible to close this Thursday.