Antonio Tajani, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, indicated it is unlikely that Mario Draghi would end up leading the next European Commission.
Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank (ECB), is highly regarded in European Union circles. His popularity has led to speculation that he could potentially replace Ursula von der Leyen as the President following June’s European Parliament elections.
But Tajani, the leader of the Forza Italia party, has poured cold water on those rumours, stating Draghi was not a candidate for the role.
“Draghi president of the European Commission? He must be nominated by someone and does not belong to any political family. I see it as a complicated thing,” Tajani said according to Italian news outlet La Presse.
The European Union needs “to become a State” to survive in the modern world, former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi has claimed. https://t.co/ajgzkhouTi
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 1, 2023
French President Emmanuel Macron strongly supports Draghi and is said to be campaigning on behalf of “Super Mario”, a nickname he earned during the Eurozone crisis.
For Macron, Draghi could be an ally in the fight to exempt strategic investments from EU spending rules and a more “flexible” interpretation of fiscal issues and debt in Europe, in alignment with French preferences.
At the end of 2021, Macron and Dragi co-authored an op-ed in the UK’s Financial Times advocating for a reform of EU fiscal rules.
As with Draghi’s lack of political backing from friendly parties in Italy, Macron does not enjoy the most cordial relations with the leadership in either Berlin or Rome.
Von der Leyen, on the other hand, is fighting to retain her job as EC chief and has been courting Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for months. That has included working with her on migration, shifting policies to the Right and publicly praising the PM, much to the dismay of left-wing parties.
European Parliament Liberals have joined Socialists in threatening to abandon European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as she looks to secure support from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. https://t.co/xATrRLOOlx
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 29, 2024
Tajani added that he was in favour of some sort of right-wing bloc.
“I hope that we can create a liberal, popular and conservative majority,” he said. “If the League comes closer to this coalition, I am very happy.”
The Italian insisted he has no ambition to become the EC head himself.
“Obviously they liked what I’ve done in 30 years of work, and I’m the one who has the most experience of all, but I think that season is over for me, I want to make all the knowledge I have available to Italy,” he said.
“As Pertini used to say, ‘hic manebimus optime’ [here we’ll stay excellently].”
