Politics & Economics

The Knots of Future Arrangements in EU Institutions

11
June 2023
By Gianni Pittella

Giuliano Amato in his interview with Repubblica and Mario Draghi in his speech at the Miriam Pozen Prize reception developed analyses and considerations all very interesting, but there are two that have an indirect correlation with the upcoming arrangements of European institutions.

When the former President of the Constitutional Court speaks of the ideological political burden from which Premier Meloni and her party should free themselves to be accredited as a moderate and governing force also in a European context, he raises an essential issue regarding the alliances that will follow in European political settings.

It’s not just about removing the “flame” from the symbol (which, by the way, is no small matter); it’s about recognizing that the values fought for in the past are antithetical to democracy and therefore must be renounced.

This issue is important in Italy and even more so in Germany, where the legacy of the Nazi-fascist regimes weighs on the major democratic forces, starting with the Christian Democrats, who would hardly allow an alliance between the EPP and ECR without clearer positions on these issues.

Also, Meloni’s close relationship with the governments of Hungary and Poland falls into this fundamental clarification, without which the touted alliance of the European center-right remains a paper-mâché construction.

Former Premier Mario Draghi, on the other hand, referred to the global economic and financial situation that is destined to provoke public stimulus actions to the economy to counter recessionary and stagnant tendencies.

Why hasn’t this correct reflection led to a proposal to modify the Stability Pact with the introduction of a permanent and autonomous budgetary capacity? Is there a political divide on this so important issue, and between whom? What position would an alliance between the EPP and ECR have on this issue?

I fear it would be negative.

These and other are the knots that need to be untied by the time of the European elections if we want to avoid the usual risk, that of transforming a European contest into a re-edition of the national clash.