Rumours doing the rounds in Brussels speak of a potential coalition between the European People’s Party (EPP) and the far-right Brothers of Italy following the European elections in 2024.
However, this speculation has little chance of becoming reality.
At first glance, something is evidently brewing, as EPP head Manfred Weber, from the Bavarian CSU party, has met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni multiple times since she took power last autumn.
As Weber and Meloni, who also heads the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists party (ECR), were cosying up, many suspected them of making deals about the upcoming European election.
In the centre-right EPP, the oldest and biggest European party, the national parties currently in coalition with ECR parties are pushing for an alliance between the two at the EU level.
In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala, an ECR member, has stated that the two factions are “gradually converging”, and in Italy, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is openly calling for a formal coalition between the ECR, the EPP and the liberal Renew Europe.
Some even go a step further: EPP sources have told EURACTIV that some in the party are considering bringing Meloni’s Brothers of Italy into the EPP fold, as she would prove a valuable ally for the party in the European Parliament.
However, none of these scenarios will ever become reality. Not because they aren’t plausible – they are – but because the biggest and most influential country in the EPP stands in its way: Germany.
From a German perspective, any formal or informal coalition with Meloni’s Brothers of Italy is an absolute no-go. While Meloni is arguably less extreme than many had feared before her election, she is still beyond the pale in Germany, where she holds the dubious honour of being labelled in the media as post-fascist.
When German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Meloni a few weeks back, even the German public broadcaster ARD, constitutionally bound to report objectively, titled it: “What unites the social democrat Scholz and the post-fascist Meloni?”.
For the two German EPP parties – the CDU and the CSU – any form of coalition with Meloni would be nothing short of a PR disaster, prompting lurid headlines about teaming up with fascists.
With Germany’s history and sensibility towards anything reminiscent of the Nazi era, such headlines would almost be tantamount to a political death sentence.
Furthermore, the timing is also all but in favour of a potential coalition with the Brothers of Italy. Once the European election is over next June, another election cycle starts in Germany, the campaign for the Bundestag election, which will be held a little over a year later.
With the CDU/CSU hoping to win back the chancellorship from the Social Democrats, it is doubtful that they would agree to any deal that could undermine their bid for the top job in Germany.
And any form of rapprochement with a “post-fascist” would definitely open the flanks to
rigorous attacks during the election campaign, a risk the CDU/CSU is unlikely to take.
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The Roundup
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Don’t forget to check out the latest Transport Brief for a round-up of weekly news.
Look out for…
- Trilogue between the European Institutions on Wednesday’s proposal to establish an Anti-Money-Laundering Authority.
- European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni participates in Structured Dialogues on Taxation and US IRA with the IMCO Committee Wednesday.
Views are the author’s
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
