{"id":374192,"date":"2024-06-28T12:24:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T10:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/06\/28\/destra-europea-divisa-e-litigiosa\/"},"modified":"2024-07-03T19:25:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T17:25:08","slug":"the-right-wing-that-was-supposed-to-overthrow-the-european-union-is-likely-to-find-itself-even-more-divided-and-quarrelsome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/06\/28\/the-right-wing-that-was-supposed-to-overthrow-the-european-union-is-likely-to-find-itself-even-more-divided-and-quarrelsome\/","title":{"rendered":"The right wing that was supposed to overthrow the European Union is likely to find itself even more divided and quarrelsome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – It was supposed to be a united camp to become “the second largest group in the European Parliament.” It was supposed to be an overwhelming “force for Europe” that would change the balance in Brussels, capable of “reshaping the configuration of the European right, or even supplanting the European People’s Party.” Instead,\u00a0the not-so-irresistible rise of conservative, nationalist, sovereignist, and extreme right-wing parties in the June 6-9 European elections is turning into a huge soap bubble<\/strong>, leaving an even more divided and quarrelsome camp on the ground, which is not touching the ball and splits up at the European Council and – instead of uniting – divides\u00a0into even more pieces at the EU Parliament.<\/p>\n

\"Giorgia<\/a>
From left: the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, and the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If want things to stay as they are, things will have to change<\/em>, wrote Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa<\/strong> in 1958. More than sixty years later, the European right, despite itself, has taken doctrine\u00a0and made it almost a verdict: almost everything is ready to change (internally), but almost everything will remain as before (externally)<\/strong>. Because the European Council late last night (June 27) appointed the new heads of the EU institutions<\/a>, who are then expressions of a well-known Union: the Popular from Germany\u00a0Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> for a second term\u00a0at the European Commission, the Liberal Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas<\/strong> as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the Socialist former Prime Minister of Portugal, Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>, at the European Council.<\/p>\n

At the heads of state and government table,\u00a0leaders who would have liked to tip the balance among the Twenty-seven were left on the sidelines and did not even vote compactly<\/strong>. The Italian premier and President\u00a0of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party, Giorgia Meloni<\/strong>, aware of having no leeway<\/a> at the European Council table, was the only leader who did not vote in favor of any of the three candidates (only on von der Leyen did she abstain). The Hungarian colleague\u00a0<\/a>Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who said<\/a>\u00a0the words at the beginning\u00a0of the article,<\/strong> was first outraged<\/a>\u00a0as “this agreement is a disgrace and not based on the election result,” but then endorsed Costa and abstained on Kallas. The base was the agreement of the negotiators from the Populars, Socialists, and Liberals<\/strong> – who decided and will continue to decide the fate of the Union – and all the other leaders went along<\/strong>, regardless of the color of the government they represent. While it is\u00a0still true that the far right has already entered, or decisively supports, governments in seven\u00a0member countries<\/a>, at the first opportunity it had to make an impact in Brussels, it\u00a0failed to turn claims for a “Europe of nations” into names of breaking with the past. Or even to hold a common line.<\/p>\n