Accused of being a “too right-wing”, the Commission’s executive vice-president faces criticism in Charleroi

Brussels – Raffaele Fitto? A member of a far-right party, and therefore unwelcome. A mishap for the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in Charleroi, in southern Belgium, where the Commissioner for Cohesion Policy went to see how European Union funds are being used to revitalise local areas and found himself at the centre of an open and heated protest.

Fitto visited the UCampus de Charleroi, the Walloon city’s university campus, to see the changes brought about by €23 million in European funding. Welcomed and hosted by the Minister-President of the Walloon Region, the French-speaking liberal Adrien Dolimont, the former Italian Minister for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) took part in a conference organised on campus amidst shouts, slogans, and chants from students and lecturers who criticised Fitto for his membership of Fratelli d’Italia, a party regarded by protesters as the heir to fascism.

The Commission’s Executive Vice-President rejected the accusations, making it clear that the party he came from has nothing to do with the former regime. “This sort of protest is ridiculous,” Fitto stated emphatically. “I am here to represent the European Commission; I am Executive Vice-President. I am also here to represent the values of the European Union; that is the message I want to convey.”

The police intervened, bringing in reinforcements, to deal with a situation that had suddenly become tense. The police managed to prevent the protesters from coming into contact with the university’s “guests of honour” and escorted them off campus.

The President of the Walloon Region expressed his regret: “What a disastrous image we are projecting,” lamented Dolimont. “We come here to discuss these projects and the aid Europe has given us to support the Region, and this is how we are received?” To the Belgian press, on the other hand, the protesters said they were satisfied: “We are resisting. One day, we will wake up and ask ourselves: ‘How did we end up living in a fascist country?’ That is why we are taking action to prevent this sort of thing from happening, especially at a university.”