The interested party himself, the Minister for European Affairs, knows very well that it will not be a simple "walk in the park". Raffaele Fitto, a long-time politician from Puglia who has been a member of 10 different centre-right parties over the last thirty years, from the DC in 90 to the Brothers of Italy in 2019. His designation from the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni to European commissioner in the new executive of Ursula von der Leyen has made more than a few representatives of the European majority who will support the turn up their noses new Commission. No objections on the competences that everyone recognizes to Fitto on European issues but rather strong doubts regarding theassignment, in addition to the Economic Affairs portfolio,Executive Vice President position. If so, he would be the only one of the five EU vice-presidents, in addition to the new High Representative for Foreign Policy Kallas, to come not from the majority groups (EPP, Socialists and Liberals) but from the conservatives of the ECR. A possible compromise solution that could be accepted by the Liberals would be to weaken the executive vice-presidencies and put all six of them at the same level.
Fitto towards the economy and cohesion portfolio: challenges and questions in view of the EU hearings
The fact is that next week von der Leyen will present i names and wallets final assignments of individual commissioners to the presidents of the European Parliament groups. Fitto would therefore be given the portfolio of economy, cohesion and post-pandemic recovery, thus giving our country a specific responsibility also in the assignment of a significant portion of the European budget. Then since October will begin hearings of the individual commissioners with a novelty introduced by art. 129 of the European Parliament's regulation that assigns to individual MEPs the power to also enter into the merits of individual portfolios, a power that not even national parliaments have, being able to only give or not their confidence to the entire executive. In the October hearing in Fitto there will certainly be no lack of questions which could embarrass him somewhat. For example, if they ask him his position on subsidies to Hungary that does not respect the principles of the rule of law or whether or not he agrees that the Next Generation EU it should be extended beyond 2026 as Italy is requesting against Brussels' position.
Schlein opens to Fitto: waiting for the portfolio and clarity on crucial dossiers
A half opening In the meantime, Fitto received a message from the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein member of the European socialist family that supported the reappointment of von der Leyen. “We are still waiting to understand what Fitto’s portfolio will be,” says Schlein, “and we have already asked the government to clarify who will follow and how they intend to follow the dossiers currently assigned to Fitto because they are very important for Italy such as the implementation of the PNRR, cohesion funds and programming. We cannot allow any slowdowns on this aspect. As for the rest, we must evaluate what the portfolio and the delegations will be.” Also for the S&D MEP Andrea De Caro, “Fitto can be a good representative for Italy. We are adversaries and we have clashed on many occasions, even at a local level in Puglia. But everything can be said about him except that he is the prototype of a sovereignist.”
The puzzle of the new EU Commission: Fitto and the main names for key positions
The appointment of Fitto fits into the great puzzle of new Commission. No name or portfolio is set in stone at the moment but some fixed points can already be identified. The French Thierry breton will be vice president for industry and strategic autonomy. The Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis will be vice-president for enlargement and reconstruction of Ukraine. The Slovak Moros Sefcovic Vice President for Administration, Simplification and Interinstitutional Relations, the Spanish Teresa Ribeira Vice President for Green and Digital Transition but her strongly anti-nuclear stance could move her to an even more weighty portfolio, that of competition. To the Austrian Magnus Brunner should go the financial services portfolio but Brunner is also the only possible candidate for the coveted competition portfolio. The former Belgian foreign minister, haja Lahbib should have the portfolio for internal affairs while the Bulgarian one Ekaterina Zakharieva The portfolio for crisis management and humanitarian aid should go. The Greek Apostolos Tzitzikostas transport will go to the Danish Then Jørgensen could be assigned the climate change portfolio, but separated from energy or environmental responsibilities. The Romanian Roxana You are missing, a socialist candidate, could receive an economic portfolio, a likely reward for her government's decision to nominate a woman. The Lithuanian Andrius Tub could take the security portfolio, strengthening Baltic influence on foreign policy and strengthening the EU's anti-Russian stance together with Kallas. Agriculture will likely remain under the control of the EPP, with Christophe Hansen of Luxembourg or Mary Louise Albuquerque of Portugal. As for Hungary, which will hold the rotating presidency of the Union until the end of the year, the choice of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to confirm the current Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, will probably be rejected by the European Parliament. In that case a second choice could fall on the MEP Fidesz Enikő Győri thus helping von der Leyen to respect gender equality.
