From Rome
Yeah, the right has progressed in almost all of Europe, according to the results of the elections that concluded on Sunday in the 27 countries of the European Union. But this It does not seem to indicate that it will be the extreme right that will have absolute control of the European Union.
The majority parliamentary group is the European People’s Party (EPP), a kind of center and center-right Christian Democracy that won 185 seats (out of 720) and to which the current president of the European Commission (EU Executive Branch), the German Ursula von der Leyen, belongs. And several media assure that The “Ursula majority” won, suggesting that the advance of the right and far-right will not prevent the EPP from allying itself with other parties such as Socialists, Renew Europe, and Greens.
The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) alliance qualified second, obtaining 137 seats. This alliance includes, among others, the Democratic Party (center-left) of Italy, which in the results increased its votes to 24.08% (22.74% in 2019) and was confirmed as the second party in the country. And this despite the fact that in other countries, such as Germany and Spain, the progressive parties did not do very well and in Italy, the voter turnout was the lowest of all time, 49.69% of those who had right to vote. The M5S did not do very well either as it obtained the lowest number of votes since 2013, 10.3%.
Two far-right alliances. European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID) won 131 places in Parliament, the first 73 and the second 58 seats. ECR is led by the Fratelli d’ Italia (FDI) party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which in Italy obtained 28.81% of the vote. The right-wing Spanish party Vox also participates in this coalition, who recently held an international meeting in Spain attended by Argentine President Milei and online, also by Meloni. The ID, on the other hand, includes Matteo Salvini’s League and the National Rassemblement (Rassemblement National) of the Frenchwoman Marine Le Pen.
Some talked about the possible alliance between ECR and ID but relations between Salvini, who is currently Minister of Transport and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, and Meloni have become complicated lately, and The relations between Le Pen and Meloni were never too intense although they define it as a “cordial relationship.”
The war in Ukraine
The defense against the Russian threat and the war in Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the position of the EU against existing wars in other parts of the world, inflation and economic recovery, discontent in rural areas, Climate change and the green and digital transition, the effects of artificial intelligence, migrations and foreign relations with giants such as the United States or China, will be fundamental topics in the next five years of the European Parliament.
But since The war in Ukraine is getting worse and worse and not all countries in the European Union agree on how to deal with itthis issue will be one of the most conflictive that the new Parliament will have to face.
After a meeting of European Union defense ministers in May, High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said in a press conference that within the European bloc There are some member states, such as Germany and Italy, that are firmly opposed to allowing Russian territory to be attacked due to the risk of a war that worsens the situation.. While other states, such as Estonia, Lithuania and the Netherlands, ask that limitations on Ukrainian forces be removed.
The divisions on this issue also have to do with the relations that Russian President Vladimir Putin has had and has with European politicians. One of them is the far-right Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, leader of the ultranationalist Fidesz party. Orban has put obstacles in the way of both sending aid to Ukraine and blocking Russian funds that were in the EU. Another “friend” of Putin is the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Ficowho recently suffered an attack, who defends him saying that “he has been demonized” by the West and that Ukraine should lay down its weapons and accept a peace agreement.
Among the far-right parties that defend Putin are, among others, the German Alternative for Germany (AfD)., the Austrian Freedom Party, Marie Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and Salvini’s League. Both Le Pen and Salvini, in some media, are accused of having received financial funds from Russia that would have financed their parties. All this before the war in Ukraine. But there are no known investigations that delve into these topics. Salvini has declared himself in favor of peace in Ukraine.
A resounding winner in the 2019 European elections, Salvini’s League obtained 34.26% of the votes at that time. Now it has collapsed, achieving only 9.1%, even less than its ally and competitor in the current Italian government, Forza Italia, which achieved 9.7%.
The new parliamentarian who is in jail
Ilaria Salis is a 39-year-old teacher from the city of Monza, northern Italy, who was in Hungary, in Budapest, when she was arrested accused of having attacked two neo-Nazis in a demonstration in the streets of Budapest. Since that moment, in February 2023, she is in Budapest prison. When she appeared at the trial that was being carried out on her, she was shown chained both by her feet and by her hands, like a great criminal. The Italian government has tried to convince the Hungarian government to release her or arrest her in Italy, but to no avail. The leader of the Italian Left party, Nicola Frantoiani, thought that if she was proposed as a candidate for the European Union she could be released, if she was elected of course. In fact, she was elected, so now we will have to wait if her election is confirmed, a process that each candidate must go through after the results. And then it will be seen if she can be transferred or how she can be transferred to Italy, given that deputies enjoy parliamentary immunity after a certain time. YoLaria Salis, together with Meloni and the leader of the PD, Elly Schlein, have become the three main protagonists of these elections in Italy.
Municipal elections in Italy
More than 3,600 municipalities across the country went to elections in Italy last weekend. The municipalities elected mayors and municipal council. In addition, the region of Piemonte (north of the country) elected its president and regional council. The current president Alberto Ciro, a candidate supported by the parties of Meloni’s government alliance, FdI, Lega and Forza Italia, was re-elected.
In the municipalities of important cities such as Florence, Bari, Cagliari, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bergamo, Pesaro, among others, curiously there was an advance of the center-left, contradicting the results of the European elections. Of the 28 cities published by the Roman newspaper The Republic and based on official data, in 15 of them the center-left candidate received more votes than the center-right candidate. But that does not mean that these candidates will be proclaimed mayors because if they do not exceed 50% of the votes, the two candidates with the most votes must go to the second round.
In municipalities with a population of more than fifteen thousand inhabitants, mayoral elections provide for the possibility of a second round if a candidate for mayor has not obtained an absolute majority of valid votes. In municipalities that have less than fifteen thousand inhabitants, a simple majority is sufficient, that is, the candidate who has obtained the most votes is proclaimed mayor. The total scrutiny of the more than 3,600 municipalities will possibly be known on Tuesday.
