The weight of the right is being felt in Europe. Both because of the rightful recognition they claim within the decision-making processes, and also by virtue of a natural and inevitable process: the rise of the right-wingers in the last EU elections could not go unheeded. And so, even if the new European Commission is supported by the old bloc formed by socialists, populars and liberals, with the exceptional addition of the Greens in this legislature, to form that mix of sometimes conflicting parties they call the ‘Ursula majority’, it is not impossible that many ‘right-wing’ measures will be implemented. On the contrary, the possibility is very high.
Immigration and the Green Deal
Perhaps the ‘Ursula majority’ as it was formed, in a manner that excluded the growing weight of the right-wing, would have preferred to leave behind that slice of the majority population that demands less talk and more action from Europe. But this cannot go on: not only because it is right to give political weight to the forces that have truly grown behind the ballot box, but also because it is inevitable. So much so that on the major issues, such as immigration or the green transition, something is changing. To tell the truth, on immigration Ursula von der Leyen already appeared strongly intent on continuing the work begun in the last legislature with Giorgia Meloni, who as Italian Prime Minister and leader of the European Conservatives was able to bring to bear a completely new vision, hitherto unknown to the Union. An approach not merely of managing flows and dividing migrants, but of protecting borders and fighting crime in the Mediterranean. On environmental issues, on the other hand, Germany’s openness to the Greens had favoured instead the iteration of those policies that since 2019 have weakened our economy and scourged the savings of farmers and entrepreneurs.
New coalitions
Everything can change, however. The weight of the right in the Europarliament cannot be ignored and will make itself felt, even purely in an algebraic sense. Thus, in addition to the possibility that Italy will be given a weighty role within the new Commission (and this despite Fratelli d’Italia’s vote against the Ursula majority, demonstrating that coherence will never be a malus for our interests, corroborating instead the credibility of the Italian executive), the creation of ‘mini’ Ursula majorities within the individual commissions in the European Parliament will not be taken for granted at all. On the contrary, it is more than plausible that alternative coalitions will be created. Carlo Fidanza, head of the delegation of Fratelli d’Italia to the European Parliament, explained this well to Il Giornale: ‘The new fact of this legislature is that, in the face of a majority that voted von der Leyen on 16 July, in the chamber and in the committees, on every measure, there will be the possibility of creating another alternative that goes from the PPE towards the right.
A more right-wing Commission
It is the right that cannot remain isolated and that already in this legislature deserved the leadership of the continent, not least because the numbers were there in the Europarliament. And in reality, even in the European Council, the body that brings together the heads of state and government of the 27 member states, things are no different: the assembly leans strongly to the right, and if each state has the right to choose its own commissioner, it is understandable that von der Leyen will find herself at the head of a Commission strongly influenced by the right. “The Commission,” Fidanza went on to say, “has to reckon with the new numbers in the parliamentary commissions in which forces to the right of the EPP together with the Populars could form an alternative majority. In short, it is what has been repeated for months: the right and the Conservatives cannot fail to play a leading role in European decision-making processes.
