“I want to be very clear, I am also vice president of the EPP: for us it is no agreement possible with Afd and with Mrs. Le Pen's party”. With these words the Foreign Minister and Berlusconi's successor at the helm of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani, sends Matteo Salvini's proposal back to the sender in no uncertain terms who, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, had spoken of a "written pact for the center-right", inviting allies to be “all united in Europe” in view of the 2024 European elections. That "all united" also included the main ones European far-right partiesnamely the French Rassemblement National, a political force led by Marine Le Pen, and the Germans of Alternative für Deutschland.
Tajani: "Agreement with Le Pen and Afd impossible"
Speaking to the microphones of Agorà Estate on Rai 3, Tajani ruled out any hypothesis of an agreement between Forza Italia and the far right.
“It is impossible for us to make any deal with Afd and with the Mrs Le Pen's party”, he said clearly, adding that “I personally gave life when I was elected President of the European Parliament to an agreement between Conservatives, Popular and Liberals. That is the agreement, in my opinion, on which to bet.
And how does the League fit in this context? “The League is something quite different, no problem, on the contrary, we will be happy to have the League part of a majority, but without Le Pen and without the AFD”, replies Tajani.
The League's response: "This is not the time for diktats"
“My friend Tajani really prefers it continue to govern with Pd, socialists and Macron? The League is working to change the majority in Europe and finally give life to a united centre-right project, capable of giving concrete answers to citizens after years of bad governance by the left. This is not the time for diktats, nor to decide a priori who to exclude from the European centre-right project, especially if this comes from those who have been arm in arm with the Pd and socialists in the EU until now". This is the response of the MEPs of the Lega Marzo Zanni (president of the ID group) and Marco Campomenosi (head of the Lega delegation in the European Parliament), who then increase the dose: "We ask for more respect for colleagues in the ID group: it is thanks to the votes of our French allies of the RN and German allies of the AfD if, together with the EPP, we managed to push back the latest green Euromadness as recently as last week. We refuse to think that someone who defines himself as 'centre-right' might prefer Macron and the left to Le Pen"
The League then defines the alliance requested by Matteo Salvini as “the only possible alternative”. Otherwise, argues Carroccio, "perhaps someone in the EPP wants to deceive the voters by pretending to look for another way but, in fact, continues to choose to govern a continent according to the agenda dictated by illiberal leftists, enemies of industry and work , which stir up the squares in France and Belgium”.
Skip the meeting between Salvini and Le Pen
The confrontation between the two parties of the government majority seems destined to continue. In the meantime, however, skip the fface to face between Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen scheduled for today in Rome. The two will feel in video conference in the afternoon, sources from the League specify who then also explain the reasons why the meeting was cancelled: "The face-to-face is postponed in the light of the serious situation in France”, they say, even if the timing of the announcement leaves some doubts.
