BRUXELLES – «When Italy was in difficulty due to the pandemic, Wilders said: not a euro to Italy. And now he and Salvini are friends?”. While the far right advances dangerously in Europe, the most enthusiastic supporter of this drift in our country is the head of the League, Matteo Salvini. Which next Sunday will bring together the reactionary, anti-European and Putinian leaders of the Old Continent in Pontida.
Frans Timmermansleader of the red-green alliance in the Netherlands and former vice-president of the European Commission, warns: «We are faced with a real danger. Europe faces an existential challenge. Wilders comes to Italy but he wants to split the EU, his is a nationalist thought and he certainly won’t help Italy if necessary.”
The right, meanwhile, has also advanced in Austria. Salvini also defined the FPÖ exponents as “friends”.
«Let’s not forget that that party was founded by two SS officers. Last week they sang a Nazi song at a ceremony. These are their origins. And, even more importantly for today’s Europe, they are friends of Putin. We all remember Salvini wearing that shirt with the face of the Russian president. So I understand that they are his friends. The same goes for Wilders waving the Russian flag. Now he hides it but that’s how it is. However, we must defend ourselves from Putin, he cannot win in Ukraine. It is an existential question for the EU.”
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by our correspondent Tonia Mastrobuoni
Don’t you see the risk that electoral victories like those of Wilders in the Netherlands, the FPÖ in Austria and the right in Italy will destroy the European Union and make us go back to an anti-democratic system?
«This is why the war in Ukraine has an importance that goes beyond Ukraine itself. If Putin wins, this thought that democracy and the rule of law have no future also wins. It is a danger to citizens and freedoms. Autocracies cannot accept an open society. And they cause disasters. Even on an economic level. Let’s look at Hungary: Orbán has become very rich but his country is poor. It is essential to defend the rule of law, personal freedoms, women’s rights. They look to the past, we look to the future.”
Even in Holland?
«Of course, in the government they are making an incredible mess. Every day there is a problem, every day they do something unacceptable. Even those who voted for Wilders are starting to understand that I am not capable of governing a country as complicated as mine.”
This happens everywhere. The radical right, even in Italy, put to the test by the government, must retract all its electoral promises.
«Yes but at the same time they find an excuse to say that it’s not their fault. It’s the fault of the migrants, of Brussels, of the Germans, of the refugees. There is always another culprit. But we must be very careful: the most important thing for them is to be re-elected, it is not democracy. And then the press must be controlled, they invent another gigantic problem to confuse public opinion and escape from reality without addressing the real problems: poverty, school, healthcare, industry, the economy.”
In just over a month we will vote in the United States. Could Trump’s victory give even more oxygen to this right?
«A Trump victory would give breath to the autocracy. Already during the election campaign he is attacking the rule of law every day. Unfortunately this problem will be with us for at least 10-15 years. I’m talking about a current of thought in society that crosses all continents. We see it in America and Europe but also in Asia. This is my fear. I get an attraction to strong men. It’s a trend that needs to be stopped. We Europeans cannot forget our history. There is no better system than democracy based on the rule of law. We politicians and you journalists have a pedagogical responsibility on this point.”
In this context, does the new European Commission seem suitable to you to address all these problems?
«The positive side is that it focuses on the industry of the future, on the defense industry. The downside is that for the first time in 70 years the socialists do not have a commissioner with responsibility for social issues. I don’t understand why Commissioner Schmidt’s delegation didn’t remain. I don’t see clearly where the Rule of Law Commission is going. I don’t understand who is really responsible for this. There is a lot of opacity about the roles. In the end, the only person responsible is Ursula von der Leyen.”
In short, has the president centralized too much power on herself?
«He organized the Commission in such a way that he always had 100 percent control. She will decide everything. This was not the case in the previous Commission.”
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In Brussels there is much discussion about the role of the Italian commissioner, Raffaele Fitto, of Fratelli d’Italia. Does the involvement of the conservative ECR group seem like a mistake to you?
«We must take into account the composition of national governments. It is not a problem if there is the willingness of the commissioner to accept the rule of law. It was like this before with the Polish commissioner, for example.”
Fitto, however, was assigned the executive vice presidency.
“But I believe that the executive vice presidents of this commission are not comparable to previous ones.”
The reactionary wave seems to question the Green Deal, its “creation”.
«Fortunately Von der Leyen was clear: the foundations of the Green Deal cannot be touched. Now the only question is whether we are able to go further and move even faster on the energy transition. Mario Draghi’s report also offers us this analysis. Then, of course, I also see a different political atmosphere. I have some more concerns about everything that concerns the protection of nature and agriculture.”
What if there was a step backwards?
«It would be stupid especially from an economic point of view. Just look at what is happening in America or what is taking place in China or Egypt. The energy transition is decisive. These things are going at an incredible speed, wind power, photovoltaic… This is the real revolution. We cannot afford, as Europeans, not to do it too, for example on batteries. With everything that is happening in the world we must be careful not to be the last on the path to change.”
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– 2024-09-30 23:18:14
