Where are you going Manfred Weber?

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Spain stops the Meloni wave. This is the address of the record that yesterday opened the policy section at vanguard. I wrote it after one o’clock in the morning, when we approached the extraordinary closing time. Normally, the paper is closed between ten and eleven at night, but on election days the hours are longer. At dawn, all the cats are brown and the thoughts begin to dance of their own accord. So I went to sleep after 3 with the suspicion that I had headlined something geek. Today, Tuesday, I am convinced it was a good fit.

bulletin Peninsula It started on April 18th Warning of the arrival of a cold air current from northern Europe. The weather report indicated the alliance of the traditional right with the far right in Sweden and Finland, two countries with long social democratic traditions. the first Peninsula He was referring particularly to Finland, where the popular Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin had just been defeated by the classical conservatives from the National Coalition, linked to the European People’s Party, and by the Finns’ Party, an extreme right-wing formation.

The current government in Finland consists of the National Coalition and the Finns Party, as well as two minority formations: the Christian Democrats and the Swedish Minority Party in Finland. That government, which is only two months old, has already recorded some important incidents. Far-right Economy Minister Wilhelm Gonella was forced to resign a few weeks ago because of his past ties to a neo-Nazi group. That was the wind that came from northern Europe.

Will the municipal and regional elections of 2023 bring us a new change of course, as an early expression of the conservative wave that seems to be rising in Europe as a result of the war? This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a few weeks, after seeing Finland election resultand opinion polls in Germany, and the political development of Italy and demonstrations in FranceWhich is more than just a protest against extending the retirement age.” That was the question about the first peninsula.

Then Manfred Weber, the Bavarian politician who heads the European People’s Party and has been working for months on agreements, alliances and harmony with far-right parties, loyal to the Atlantic Alliance, gathered in the conservative group of the European Parliament, entered the scene in this newsletter. A strategy not fully shared by the CDU. The goal: to move to the right in all axes of European institutions. This is how we explained Weber’s roadmap:

Spain is once again ruled by the People’s Party, with the support of Vox, a party in turn supervised by the Brotherhood of Italy, which will establish a special alliance with the PPE. After advancing in Scandinavia through pacts with the far-right in Sweden and Finland, the European People’s Party has taken control of southern Europe, waiting to see how the succession to Emmanuel Macron is resolved in France, who by constitutional mandate will not be able to aspire to a third term. This is the map.”

Local and regional elections on May 28 in Spain confirmed these predictions. Overshadowed by the negative result, Pedro Sanchez advanced to the generals, and Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brotherhood of Italy, did not miss the appointment. In an action held by Vox in the city of Valencia, on July 13, to celebrate its accession to the government of the Valencian Community, the Italian Prime Minister stressed how important it is for Vox to be present in the future Spanish government for the advancement of the country. A new conservative bloc in Europe. The goal: a new majority, with the Social Democrats in the corner, to elect the future European Commission. A comprehensive redefinition of European politics.

Unless it came as a surprise to me, when last week, two days before the election, it was Corriere della Sera Reproduced a full-page interview from the newspaper the world With Alberto Núñez Feijóo, where this was He spoke openly in favor of Meloni joining the European People’s Party. (Newspaper the world Owned by Cairo Publishing Group which is currently publishing courierChief of the Italian Press). I was surprised that Feijóo made such frank statements two days before the general election. The plan worked out perfectly.

In fact, Spain stopped the Meloni wave. This data was certainly not on the minds of the vast majority of voters, but it was present in the international coordinates for the day of July 23rd. And Peninsula She was born to talk about the link between domestic politics and foreign policy. I can assure you that in the principal offices in Brussels, in the Elysee Palace in Paris and in the Chancellery in Berlin, there were faint smiles of relief yesterday. Not so at Palazzo Chigi in Rome, seat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic.

I refrain from commenting on Ursula von der Leyen’s mental state so as not to create misunderstandings. We have just gone through a very secret election in which its platforms were hardly debated. There was an obsessive discussion about truth and lies, that is, about trust. And down below were the power relations in the EU’s governing bodies.

I leave you with this tweet from Matteo Renzi, former Italian Prime Minister, a European who can be described as a liberal centrist, linked to the dominant European values ​​over the past 70 years. I translate below.

“In Spain, we don’t know who won, but we know who lost: Vox, the far right. It’s an interesting sign: elections against Europe are not won. And the next European elections will be won in the centre. The message that Madrid is reaching Rome is loud and clear. Georgia, do you hear that Vox?

Three short comments:

Direct election of the head of government is required in Spain as well as in Italy and in the European Commission. Otherwise, there will be more and more distance between voters and institutions.

Sanchez was bold and skillful in using all the institutional mechanisms to prevent the right from succeeding. The complete opposite of Enrico Letta [antiguo secretario del Partido Democrático]Briefly.

Opinion polls are not always correct.

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