“Using the state TV to make a rally against the opposition is a Soviet Union stuff,” thunders Matteo Salvini, the leader of La Lega, a sovereign formation linked to Vladimir Putin. Giorgia Meloni, secretary of Fratelli d’Italia, a far-right party, speaks of “totalitarian country’s act”.
What happened? On April 10, the Italian premier Giuseppe Conte held a press conference in which he directly attacked the two opposition leaders, calling them by name: “They are false and irresponsible and they weaken us in the EU”. The fact is that the Italian government is facing a very tough negotiation within the Eurogroup to wrest a loan-based financing plan that does not aggravate Rome’s already heavy public debt.
Conte wants Brussels to make at least 1,500 billion euros available to EU members to revive the economies, but he does not want the operation to be financed through the MES, the State-saving fund that has brought Greece to its knees. Instead, he wants the debt to be spread across the EU by the emission of specific public bonds called Eurobonds or Coronabonds.
The countries of northern Europe have declared themselves definitely opposed to the issue of the Eurobonds and so the first round of the negotiation ended with a substantial draw.
In this delicate phase, Salvini and Meloni restarted their anti-Brussels attacks, accusing Conte of having succumbed to the strongest. The Prime Minister was furious and accused them of weakening the country. Among other things, Conte said, the notorious MES was approved during the government directed by their ally Silvio Berlusconi.
Conte’s government was born under the protection of Brussels (and also of Washington), precisely to block the march towards the power of the Italian right-wing sovereigntists. Rome also counts on the support of the former Italian Prime Minister Gentiloni, now European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, and of its own Minister of Economy, well introduced in the EU’s circles, given that till recently he directed the Committee on Economic and Monetary Problems of the European parliament.
While France and the other thirteen countries are lined up with Italy on asking for Eurobonds, the Netherlands leads the orthodox front which also includes the sovereign government’s political allies with Salvini and Meloni. Thierry Baudet, the leader of the Dutch anti-EU right-wing The Forum for Democracy, who leads the strictness’s front, is a close ally of Salvini and Meloni, as well as the Hungarian Viktòr Orbàn and all the members of the Visegrad group. While Germany, which is also ideologically part of strictness’s front, it is currently trying to act as a mediator.
The pandemic game taking place in Brussels has a lot to offer. There is a common health plan to be established, there is financial aid to be administered to the national economies massacred by the virus and, finally, there is a political game to play: that between Europeanists and the sovereignists.
The political problem of the sovereignists is precisely this one: their doctrine is based on national supremacism and selfishness and is therefore incompatible with alliances and teamwork.
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (who was elected through the votes of the two parties in today’s Italian government) issued a clear warning: “Today Europe is mobilizing alongside Italy. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. It must be recognized that in the early days of the crisis, in the face of the need for a common European response, too many have thought only of their own home problems. They did not realize that we can only defeat this pandemic together as a Union. It was a harmful behavior and that could have been avoided. These days, distance between individuals is fundamental for our safety: the distance between European nations, on the contrary, puts everyone in danger”.
The challenge has been launched: if the European Union manages to reach a positive agreement between all its members to defeat the pandemic, it will also deal a mortal blow to the sovereignists and to Moscow, which through them tries to destabilize it.
A financial plan that pours out hundreds of billions on the European economies devastated by the virus would certainly jeopardize the political prospects of the neo-tyrant Orban and his Dutch, Austrian and even Italian allies.
These days, Sofia’s government, which is certainly not among the most convinced Europeanists, is begging to be admitted to the Euro Zone to benefit from EU contributions without interests. The charm of the billions is irresistible even for those with deep patriotic beliefs. That’s why Salvini and Meloni are so nervous, however, they are not the only ones.
