Meloni calls European elections “a referendum to choose between two Europes”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that voting in the European Parliament elections will be a “referendum to choose between two Europes.” Her statement was quoted by the ANSA agency.

Meloni said that the upcoming European Parliament elections will be a “referendum between two opposing visions” of Europe.

“On one side an ideological, centralist, nihilistic, increasingly technocratic Europe. On the other is our Europe, brave, proud, not forgetting its roots because they define who we are, they help us navigate in the darkness of fear.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

“While we have been defending Europe as a civilization forever, they adopted it after the collapse of the Soviet Union and because they are nostalgic they would like to turn it into a substitute for Soviet dirigisme,”, she said.

Meloni is known to be a member of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, a political force in the European Parliament that is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.

Earlier, Giorgia Meloni said she aims to create a right-wing majority with Italy at the forefront. Far-right parties have struggled to work effectively together in the EU in the current European Parliament, undermined by divisions on key issues like the Russia-Ukraine war and national-interest vetoes. But Meloni is convinced that there is a possibility for cooperation between the nationalist and far-right parties.

The leader of the French far-right, Marine Le Pen, recently invited Giorgia Meloni to form a right-wing super-union that would become the second largest party bloc in the European Parliament. Her call was echoed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

However, these three leaders have significant differences in their views on the role of the European Union. Meloni is a supporter of a strong EU, while Le Pen is a Eurosceptic, and Orban has been in constant conflict with Brussels over a number of issues, including the state of freedom of speech in Hungary.

There is also a significant difference in the foreign policy views of these political forces: Meloni strongly supports Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia. Orban, on the other hand, is known for his pro-Russian statements and blocking EU aid to Ukraine. Marine Le Pen has a history of relations with Putin, from whom she tried to distance herself after the Kremlin launched a full-scale war. However, her far-right party, the National Rally, has consistently opposed the Macron government’s policy of supporting Ukraine.