Ilaria Salis and Mimmo Lucano, first day at the European Parliament: “We will carry on our battles”

Brussels – The first day of Ilaria Salis and Mimmo Lucano at the European Parliament where they claimed to pursue their own battles: The new MEPs from the Left Group, who were elected in Italy with the Green Alliance and the Italian Left, presented themselves today (June 26) at the Brussels headquarters of the European Parliament. Accompanying Salis and Lucano was Nicola Fratoianni, leader of the Italian Left.

A symbolic first day that coincides with the return of an Italian delegation within the Left Group. In this regard, Nicola Fratoianni drew attention to the “important result we had in Italy that allows us to bring to Europe our themes, namely peace, ecological transition, social justice, protection of fundamental rights, the most fragile and migrants.”

Despite the election, the court case in Hungary by Ilaria Salis is not over, not least because Budapest may ask the EU Parliament to withdraw parliamentary immunity. Despite this, the newly elected MEP says she is optimistic because “I do not want to run away from justice; I hope the European Parliament will stand up for the defence of fundamental rights, the presumption of innocence, and the principle of proportionality.”

Salis and Lucano said they are ready to fight their own battles within the Europarliament: the former will pay particular attention to the protection of the poorest and the housing issue, while the latter to migration issues. In this regard, Lucano took today’s opportunity to sharply criticize Italy on the management of immigrant people: “I want to imagine that I can succeed in being an alternative to the deportations with which the Italian government has intended to manage immigration in recent periods, but even in Europe there is a regression in immigration laws.” Neither Lucano nor Salis expressed their intention to vote for the increasingly likely second Von der Leyen commission: both because they need to discuss it with the Left group first and because, as Salis pointed out, “I’ve just arrived, I still have to understand how it works.”