by Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday criticised attempts to reach a deal on top officials at European institutions, saying they ignored the wishes of voters in the European Parliament elections in early June. Sources said on Tuesday that the three main European centrist groups, which do not include Meloni’s conservatives, had agreed on a deal on key European Union posts, retaining Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission chief. The deal will be submitted to EU leaders for approval at a summit starting on Thursday in Brussels. Confirmation of the move would mark a continuation of the pro-EU factions’ hold on to power despite the rise of far-right parties in European Parliament elections earlier this month. “It does not seem to me that there has been a willingness to take into account what citizens have said at the ballot box so far,” Giorgia Meloni told the Italian Chamber of Deputies, adding that parties whose political weight has increased in recent elections should be included in the negotiations. Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party, the main force in the European Conservatives and Reformers Party (ECR), won the most votes in Italy. A shift to the right was also observed in France and Germany, where the ruling parties suffered heavy defeats. “(The EU institutions) were conceived as neutral entities, capable of guaranteeing all member states, regardless of the political colour of their governments,” Meloni told Italian lawmakers. The top job deal calls for former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa to take over the European Council presidency and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to take over as High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the sources said. All three factions have the votes needed to push the proposal through the European Council. A new term for von der Leyen, however, will require approval from the European Parliament, where she will need to broaden her support beyond traditional centrist groups.
According to diplomats, Ursula von der Leyen could thus seek to win the support of Giorgia Meloni by granting Italy an important post within the European Commission.
(Written by Angelo Amante, Giuseppe Fonte and Matteo Negri; French version Dagmarah Mackos, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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