The choice of Fitto as European Commissioner, a decision taken by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and made official in the last few hours with a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is a choice of responsibility. This responsibility, which until now has characterized the work of the Meloni government in Europe, according to the principle of loyal cooperation, which must not fail even in the face of a striking political and ideological difference between those who represent the citizens at different levels. It is enough to think, for example, of the demands for responsibility made by the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi (of the Left), towards his “superior” in the Region, Vicenzo De Luca, in his relations with the Prime Minister’s Office: two political exponents of the same party, but with different relations with the executive, depending on their different ideological openness or closure. It is in this context that the Meloni government’s relations with Brussels should be read.
Giorgia Meloni has always shown loyalty in Europe and a spirit of cooperation on major issues. One of them, above all, immigration: only the boatmen would benefit from an ideological division between the decision-making bodies. Because that is what causes a lack of cooperation: non-resolution of problems, lack of decisions, protracted, unpleasant deadlocks. Instead, cooperation and dialogue with all the actors on the ground have made it possible to approach the solution of the problem with a different approach than in the past: landings have decreased and the boatmen are at the end of their tether, forced to speculate on other routes and not on the central one, which until a few months ago was the most popular and which unites Italy and Tunisia. All of this in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, which the Prime Minister herself has repeatedly invoked: Europe should intervene where individual European countries are unable to do so with their own forces, or where the Brussels bodies could do it better..
Other than isolation
The appointment of Fitto, officially made on Friday, is a step in this direction. Far from isolation in Europe, feared by a left wing that tried to speculate on the vote of the Fratelli d’Italia against the Ursula majority; a vote against which Prime Minister Meloni himself, without a moment’s hesitation, proudly claimed that “never with the left” must be applied both in Italy and in Europe, always. That of Raffaele Fitto, Minister for European Affairs, Cohesion Policy and the NRP, is the most appropriate profile. His work in the implementation of measures provided by Europe, including the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, or even the Development and Cohesion Funds, has created a high regard for him, which, to be fair, he already enjoyed in Europe..
Maintaining a dialogue with the European institutions, despite what many call a “rift”, but which is in fact a vote against, a free choice in democratic life, is therefore not a problem: one can and must cooperate on major issues, always respecting and preserving Italian interests. Our nation enjoys a good position in Europe, for its historic role as founder of the Union, for its position as the continent’s third largest economy, for its industrial and cultural weight, and now for its stable and credible government. Because it is really a question of credibility: and saying no to a Commission, but continuing to cooperate on the great issues for the good of the nation, is a stunning demonstration of loyalty to the electorate, institutional maturity and integrity towards the country..
