EU’s center-right takes risky bets ahead of Sweden, Italy vote – EURACTIV.com
The end of the much-discussed “grand coalitions” between European centrist parties and social democrats has prompted the European People’s Party (EPP) to search for alternatives on the right side of the political spectrum to form governments.
In the elections in Sweden and Italy, traditionally pro-EU centrist parties can form governments and alliances with far-right and Eurosceptic parties to counter the progressive governments formed in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Germany. But what could it mean for the EU project?
Sweden and Italy hold crucial elections on September 11 and 25, respectively.
In Stockholm, the latest polls indicate that the left-wing bloc (the ruling Social Democrats, the Green Party, the Left Party and the Center Party) is neck and neck with the right-wing bloc, which consists of centre-right (EPP) liberal and Eurosceptic parties.
Cordon sanitaire no longer a “norm”.
Charlie Weimers, vice-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and member of the far-right Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD), told EURACTIV that the Swedish election could serve as a positive example for “the wider right in Europe of what we can achieve when we work together”.
“I mean, the EPP and Renew, they have looked to the left during this mandate, and we see the results in different policy areas. The result is, to say the least, more progressive than conservative,” he told EURACTIV.
“I think it would perhaps open up to many political leaders across the continent that there could actually be a collaboration between the EPP, the ECR, Renew and the Identity and Democracy group (ID) as our interests merge,” he added.
The Swedish politician insisted that the idea of a “cordon sanitaire” was the norm in Sweden until a few years ago.
“And now the Sweden Democrats are number two in the polls; there has been a normalization of our party in Swedish politics. So I think it is the cordon sanitaire that will perhaps be questioned at the European level,” he said.
The Italian Experiment
Italy faces a similar situation: a progressive bloc is fighting to prevent the conservatives from forming a government in the September 25 vote.
Giorgia Meloni (Brothers of Italy, ECR) led the right-wing coalition with Matteo Salvini’s Lega (ID group in the EU Parliament) and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forward Italy (European People’s Party) expected to sweep to victory with 48.2%.
It is followed by Enrico Letta’s leftist coalition led by the Democratic Party at 29.5%.
Manfred Weber, currently in Italy, told a press conference on Tuesday that those who want to be sure that the center-right majority will be pro-Europe “must vote for Forza Italia, for Silvio Berlusconi and Antonio Tajani, who was president of the European Parliament .I was pleasantly surprised by the centre-right coalition’s draft and final programme”.
“It is very clear that (the centre-right coalition) is for European integration, reiterates the transatlantic cooperation with our American friends, the role of NATO and European values,” he said.
After Draghi’s government fell, Weber wrote on Twitter, “Europe needs a stable centre-right government in Rome. Forza Italia will remain a pro-European force, and the EPP will stand by it”.
Later today, Weber will meet Berlusconi, who yesterday sought to demonstrate the pro-EU credentials of the new centre-right coalition.
“Italy is a founding country of the European Union. Europe is our common homeland; our Christian and liberal principles were born here. We cannot but be pro-European, without hesitation and to the end,” Berlusconi wrote on social media.
Orbán waiting in the corner?
But Europe’s progressives do not share the same opinion and see enormous risks for the EU project.
In a interview with EURACTIV Italy Udo Bullmann, a German member of parliament from the social democratic SPD and former head of the S&D, said that the EPP had always found it difficult to make a clear engagement with the far right.
In Bullmann’s view, a “radical right-wing government” in Italy could open the door to a “regulation” of democracy in an EU founding state “, putting us back on the illiberal economic past, strengthening the illiberal sides of society and deepening inequalities”.
Another critical feature is the role of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose party Fidesz used to belong to the EPP before a bitter split.
At a meeting in Rome last April, Lega leader Matteo Salvini – who called with Meloni – called found “completely agreed” with Orbán on creating a new “centre-right” to fight rising socialists across Europe.