Raffaele Fitto has been nominated by Giorgia Meloni to be Italy’s choice for the new Commission. Fitto has shown his political acumen by avoiding questions on domestic issues and promising to serve the European Union.
Italy’s Cohesion and Reform Commission vice-presidential candidate on the technical side of her confirmation hearing in the European Parliament on Tuesday insisted she would not represent her political party or her country.
“If I were to be put on a political ticket, I would give a code of ethics because I represent the European Commission for the next five years,” said Raffaele Fitto, who was nominated by Giorgia Meloni.
During the trial, Fitto avoided politically sensitive topics.
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Despite attempts by members of the European Parliament to pressure him to adopt some of the right-wing political views espoused by the Brothers of Italy party, Fitto underlined his “full and serious commitment to representing the interests of the European Union.”
Despite some MEPs insisting on adopting some of the political views of right-wing parties, Brother Italia, Fitto underlined the “full and serious commitment to representing the interests of the European Union”.
“After that, the left-wing MP said he was shouldering Fratelli d’Italia, his national party.”
If appointed to the post, Fitto said he would represent the Commission and act in the interests of the whole EU, distancing himself from his party. “I will make a serious commitment to the European Union, adhering to the EU Treaties and the Commission’s code of conduct,” he said.
“He didn’t even cause the Fratelli d’Italia, the party itself,” the left-wing European parliamentarian said afterwards.
The issue of withholding cohesion funds in Hungary has been raised several times. Currently, Brussels is withholding more than EUR6 billion of Hungary’s allocation due to violations of the rule of law. The Fratelli d’Italia party, which has been criticized for the move,
reaffirmed that “respect for the rule of law is a fundamental and fundamental principle of the European Union” and committed to “maintaining neutrality” towards all 27 member governments, although it did not touch on specific issues.
Italian lawmakers tried to link it to domestic political issues but to no avail. Valentina Palmisano of the Five Star Movement (Left) asked his position on Italy’s reforms giving more power to regional governments, which she said would hurt southern Italy. Meanwhile, leftist Mimmo Lucano also criticized Rome’s decision to send some asylum seekers to reception centres in Albania.
Fitto defended himself when MEP Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle (Netherlands/Renew Europe) criticized the voting record as MEP. “You voted against the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, against better protection of women in cohesion policy, and supported the claim that the rule of law policy aims to weaken the democratically elected government,” he said.
He suggested increasing the EU housing budget from €7 billion to €14 billion and pledged to strengthen the European Social Fund to deal with potential job losses in the 27 Member States.
On the main issue – the possible diversion of cohesion funds to military spending as reported by the Financial Times – Fitto said only that this would not be allowed under the current rules, without elaborating on his position on the matter.
Fitto’s confirmation by MEPs will be “packaged” together with the other vice-presidential candidates who have been heard today and negotiated together by groups in the European Parliament at the end of the entire session. “It could be the end of this week, it could be Monday or Tuesday next week,” Bulgarian MEP Andrey Novakov, EPP coordinator at the Regional Development Committee, told Euronews.
The political agreement concerns the votes of six vice-presidential candidates: Teresa Ribera Rodríguez of Spain; Roxana Mînzatu of Romania (Socialists and Democrats); Henna Virkkunen of Finland (European People’s Party); Stéphane Séjourné of France; and Kaja Kallas of Estonia (Renewing Europe).
However, Fitto’s submission appears to be in jeopardy. “It will be approved. It will happen today if we have the opportunity to vote. I know there is a majority, including among the coordinators,” Novakov said. “The only reason it is delayed is because of another candidate, the candidate Español.”
