Von der Leyen tightens ranks in the EPP ahead of vote for her second term. Forza Italia: “There are all the conditions” to support her

Brussels – Ursula von der Leyen needs a united European People’s Party (EPP) to guarantee the consistent base of votes needed for her confirmation as head of the European Commission. While she is hunting for votes outside the coalition with socialists and liberals, she cannot risk stabbing from her own political family. Today (July 4), she secured the support of eight Forza Italia MEPs. Head of delegation Fulvio Martusciello, on the sidelines of a bilateral with the EU leader, confirmed, “There are all the conditions to have all the votes of the Italian delegation.”

Until now, the Italian vice-premier and leader of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani, has been among the most extremist within the EPP regarding the possible enlargement of the majority to the Greens, which would allow von der Leyen to count on a buffer of about 40 votes above the 361 needed. An opening deemed “unacceptable” because the ballot box decreed the ecological movement’s defeat—or at least its downsizing. Conversely, also due to national reasoning, Tajani has insisted on a rapprochement with Giorgia Meloni’s conservatives, who after the June 9 elections became the third largest group in the EU Parliament.

But von der Leyen had no room for choice: if she sought the support of the right, she would blow up the majority with Socialists and Liberals, who had clearly placed a red line in front of the party led by the Italian Prime Minister. A dangerous balancing act perfectly explained by Bas Eickhout, co-chair of the Greens group, who met von der Leyen on Monday and reiterated the group’s willingness to support her. By opening up to the right, “maybe you can gain 25 deputies from the Italian delegation (from Fratelli d’Italia, ed), but you lose about 20 from the S&D, and it would not be a stable majority.”

Having negotiated and cashed in the Greens’ support, von der Leyen has only to close the ranks of the EPP, reassuring her group on the new course she wants to set for the Green Deal. “We have obtained broad reassurances on a moderate approach to the Green Deal that ensures competitiveness. We asked that there no longer be a super commissioner to the Green Deal but that delegations be divided and assigned according to real impact and expertise. We asked for simplification so that it is not a Europe of rules and an industrial policy not imbued with ideological positions,” Martusciello said after the meeting with von der Leyen.

To Forza Italia’s requests, the president reportedly reiterated “Italy’s great importance and great respect for the Italian government.”