Members of the new European Commission have been slammed for singing the far-left Marxist song “Bella Ciao” in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The song, which is largely associated with the partisans of Italy during the Second World War and various Marxist groups, was sung by Head of Business Affairs Paolo Gentiloni, European Green Deal executive vice president Frans Timmermans, and several other leftists, Corriere Della Sera reports.
The incident was immediately slammed by populist Italian leader Matteo Salvini, who said: “Congratulations to the [Italian Democratic Party] and 5 Stars for the choice of Gentiloni as Italy’s representative in Europe.”
He addedsarcastically that they could then sing the Communist-linked song “Bandiera Rossa” at the Sanremo music festival and then go on an international tour.
Brothers of Italy (FdI) firebrand leader Giorgia Meloni also reacted with indignance to the incident, labelling the commissioners the “European Soviet Union”.
“Is it only I who considers this ridiculous little theatre by the highest European institutions scandalous? Do they not have anything more important to look after?” Meloni added.
Fulvio Martusciello MEP, a member of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI), said that prior social democrat commissioners would have never engaged in such partisan behaviour.
“It is no coincidence that the commissioners who sing are all socialists. We are serious people and we would never have acted with such stupidity,” Martusciello said.
All three parties make up the Italian centre-right alliance which enjoys the highest polling numbers in Italy, with Salvini’s League (Lega) consistently topping opinion polls.
The leftist government coalition of the Democratic Party (PD) and the Five Star Movement (M5S), meanwhile, enjoys the confidence of just a third of the population.
Salvini recently slammed the coalition government led by Prime Minister Giussepe Conte, stating that his support for changes to the European Union’s Stability Mechanism (ESM) could spell financial disaster for the Italian people and erode national sovereignty.