Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Sunday that she will stand as a candidate for the European Parliament elections as she looks to increase support for her Brothers of Italy party as citizens head to the polls in June.
In a surprise move, Meloni said that she is adding her name to the top of the Brothers of Italy’s list of candidates for the European elections between June 6th and 9th, however, she will not take the seat in the Strasbourg-based parliament if selected.
Speaking in front of a campaign conference in the central Italian city of Pescara on Sunday, Meloni said that the elections give a chance for Italy to shape the European agenda, vowing to “defend our borders and our identity in the EU,” Corriere della Sera reports.
Meloni struck a populist tone in her address, saying: “I ask the Italians to write my name, but my first name at the European elections. I am proud that the majority of citizens who address me call me Giorgia. I have been mocked for years for my popular roots, they called me fisherman, villager… But I am proud to be a person of the people.
“If you want to tell me that you still believe in me, write Giorgia on the card, because I am and will always be one of you. Power will not change me, the palace will not isolate me. I need to know once again that it’s worth it. I am only interested in the judgment of citizens, which I respect and will always respect.”
The Italian prime minister also lashed out at the green agenda favoured by elites in Brussels and other Western European capitals, branding the policy of seeking to transition to only electric cars as “suicidal idiocy” given the need to rely on countries like Communist China which “do not even remotely respect the environmental constraints of our companies”.
Meloni also highlighted the migrant crisis facing Europe, saying that “we need to attack the traffickers at the heart.”
While the Italian PM had taken a hardline on illegal migration before taking office in 2022, even going so far as to suggest deploying a naval blockade to prevent the migrant boats from crossing the Mediterranean, she has since opted for a more diplomatic approach, working alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to craft deals with Tunisia and Egypt to clamp down on people smugglers along the African coast in exchange for financial support and increased trade access to the EU.
“Italy has returned to the Mediterranean, to the wider Mediterranean, an incredibly forgotten area for a long time – she adds. Italy returned to Africa and was able to lead the way in the approach that is no longer predatory or charitable, which today everyone is looking at with interest, thanks to us,” Meloni said on Sunday.
However, this approach has led to criticism from the right, given that illegal migration actually increased under her leadership, with 155,750 illegal migrants landing on Italian shores in 2023, a nearly 50 per cent increase in sea arrivals over 2022 and the highest figure since 2017.
Meloni’s close relationship with arch-globalist Von der Leyen has also become a bone of contention among the populist right in Europe heading into the elections, with French populist leader Marine Le Pen specifically calling out Meloni for her seemingly cosy relationship with the Commission chief during a Rome conference for the Identity and Democracy (ID) EU parliament group last month.
Le Pen demanded that Meloni publicly state whether she would throw her party’s support behind Von der Leyen for a second term as the head of the European Commission, a vote for which will be held following the parliamentary elections. Meloni has so far refused to say whether she will back the German politician for a second stint at the helm of the EU as it may be a valuable chip to play to secure another top job in Brussels for Italy.
Nevertheless, Meloni appears to be in a strong position a month and a half out from the vote, with her Brothers of Italy party remaining the strongest in the country at 27 per cent, compared to 20 per cent for the Democratic Party (PD) and 16 per cent for the left-leaning anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
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