The pro-European vs sovereign scheme that trivially characterized the electoral narrative of the mainstream media and the background on the negotiations for the top jobs has been skipped. Federico Punzi’s analysis taken from Atlantico Quotidiano
At least one thing is certain after the confirmation of Ursula von der Leyen’s broken headset as president of the European Commission: it is not true that nothing has changed with the elections of May 26, as more than one commentator and correspondent has instead continued to support before, during and after – and up to a few hours before the vote in Strasbourg, even providing for Ursula a large majority of 431 votes. And it is not true that they have swept the EPP, SD and liberal-Macronians only because, on paper (a lot on paper, as we have seen), the sum of their MEPs is 444, a number that should have guaranteed von der Leyen an easy coronation .
How did it happen, then, that you garnered 383 votes, just 9 more than the required majority of 374
If we consider the crutches of the Poles of the PiS and the 5 Star Movement, about 100 votes are missing from the pro-European groups that should have supported it, well beyond the defections expected on the eve of the event.
It happened that the sovereign and green shoulder did not land the decisive blow – and on the other hand no one could realistically expect a reversal in the European Parliament – but that was enough to break the toy, to explode the contradictions in the delicate balance of gears that governed until recently, the European institutions remained stable.
Paradoxes and contradictions literally erupted throughout the Strasbourg hemicycle, except in the groups that truly emerged victorious from the Europeans – greens and sovereigns – who remained consistent on their positions. Under pressure from the crisis of consensus, both socialist and popular have imploded, the traditional political families that have up to now governed the EU appear fragmented and the parliament Balkanized. Perhaps for the first time, the community buildings of Brussels and Strasbourg will experience an “Italian-style” political instability.
Accomplices the fatal weakening of Merkel, now a leadership at sunset, and the unscrupulous moves of a Macron that arouses more irritation than it manages to aggregate, the “square”, a synthesis, a new formula able to hold together , as in the past, both the balance between political groups in Parliament and the interests of governments. The skimpy majority gathered by President von der Leyen shows how much his candidacy was a makeshift, a last-minute patch after the Visegrad Group and Italy had ditched the prepackaged package from Paris and Berlin that saw Timmermans at the head of the Commission.
Of course, someone will still have the nerve to write and tell that the pro-Europeans have won, that a convinced federalist and in any case president, that the ugly and bad leaguers are isolated, but von der Leyen starts as a lame duck, she finds herself with a majority narrow, shaky, precarious. A “Frankenstein majority”, defined it by Daniele Capezzone, who “goes from Macron to Giarrusso, from Kaczynski to Sassoli” and hangs on the votes and moods of grillini and the Polish right.
The pro-European vs sovereign scheme that trivially characterized the electoral narrative of the mainstream media and the background on the negotiations for the top jobs has been skipped. Europeanists such as socialists, greens and perhaps even some libdems, did not vote or voted against von der Leyen, while nationalists such as Orban and Kaczynski supported her, resulting in a shift to the right of the majority, albeit varied and mobile, which supports the new president. It is easy to predict that in the coming weeks, starting with the confirmation process of the new commissioners, we will see further tensions and reshuffling.
Looking at Italy, the contradiction exploded in the government majority, with the League which voted against von der Leyen and the 5 Star Movement which supported it, together with the Democratic Party and Forza Italia. And to Macron: the flirtation with the yellow vests and the controversy over the colonial franc is obviously over. The 5Stelle are confirmed capable of the most unpredictable contortions. If it is all to verify the impact on one’s electorate of a choice that appears to be dictated by Prime Minister Conte, to demonstrate at the Quirinale and in Berlin the conversion of a movement that has become “adult”, someone already glimpses the evidence in this unprecedented convergence with Pd and FI of a possible coalition of “responsible” in the event that the contract with the League is terminated prematurely. In light of yesterday’s vote,
Article published on atlanticoquotidiano.it
