Just over a year from european electionsthe presidency of is scheduled for tomorrow morning in Rome renew europethe reformist alignment that is recognized in the leadership of Emmanuel Macron. Today, however, at the Eliso Theater in Rome, an initiative is planned with the European and Italian leaders who refer to Renew. we talked about it with Nicholas Danti, Vice President of the Renew Europe group.
Why Rome?
It is an appointment that we have decided on for a long time, precisely because of the importance that our parliamentary group attaches to Italy. The European elections will be a decisive watershed, the stronger we are in Italy, the more chances there will be in Europe of having a strongly Europeanist majority, attentive to innovative processes and always deployed in defense of democracies in difficulty or at war, as is happening in Ukraine. From this point of view, the weight that Renew will have will be decisive.
The European popular parties seem to filter more and more with the right of the ECR and Prime Minister Meloni has a central role in this possible new alliance. The left is increasingly radicalized, not only in Italy. What political space does it propose to occupy and what post-electoral alliances? Even with the right? Is it really that inevitable?
We will do our best to ensure that we do not go from an Ursula majority to a Giorgia majority. And also to prevent the popular from betraying its historical mission, with unnatural combinations. It depends precisely on us, it depends on the strength that Renew has in the next European Parliament. Also to stop the maximalist wave that is sweeping the left, the Democratic Party. A strong interlocutor in the center, also strong in common sense, will also serve to curb ‘radical’ tendencies on the other sides.
The European elections will take place in a year’s time, at the beginning of June. With what balance of this legislature will you present yourself to the voters and what would you like to characterize in the next one?
I was the first Italian to join Renew, I have seen the role and prestige of the parliamentary group grow in recent years, which has rightly become one of the great political families in Europe. The budget can only be positive, it has been geared towards steady growth and I think it has also helped the Commission in some decisive steps, I am thinking above all of the decisions on Next Generation EU.
weather emergency. We have seen what happened in Emilia Romagna. President Macron seems to have corrected the line slightly, arguing that we need to better combine environment and development. Is it really possible? With what thesis will he present himself to the voters?
Don’t stop progress, but be environmentally friendly progress. To put it jokingly, yes to sustainability, no to ideology, enough land consumption, yes to the circular economy. We are facing a real cultural challenge: Europe is moving in a Green direction, which I consider mandatory, our effort is to accompany the industry, the national economies, in a transformation that is undoubtedly transcendental, without losing jobs. On the contrary, I believe in the explosion of many new job opportunities, many new jobs.
Are there no doubts about Ukraine? Could Europe have done more and better?
I think Europe deserves full sufficiency over Ukraine. Starting with that train trip to kyiv with Draghi, Macron and the other European heads of state. There were no hesitations or objections, we immediately recognized the attack and together with NATO we tried to defend the attacked man.
In any case, there is an increasingly evident connected theme: Europe needs to develop its own sovereignty in order to once again be a fully-fledged major player on the world stage. In the meantime, this means that we can no longer postpone the question of common defense.
The issue of migrants will surely be on the agenda of the electoral campaign. What is your position? European legal and controlled immigration quotas? Without walls but with better border control?
The first point refers to a simple and banal human concept: everything is done to save lives at sea, one does not look the other way as unfortunately often happened. What happened to Cutro is a slap in the face of our principles, our values. In Europe, a huge political problem persists: the Visegrad countries, friends of Meloni and Salvini, want to block and turn a deaf ear to any other hypothesis. In other words, the associates of this majority are aligned against Italy. In these ten years, the principle that national identity is affirmed through rejection, through walls, has been consolidated. Against this logic we must develop a new European policy.
So we need “More Europe”, you could say. Also on the list in Italy? Single lists of reformist and liberal parties, then?
Open, inclusive, welcoming: this is how I imagine the unique list of Renew, with the Liberal Democrats, precisely Più Europa, the popular ones, the civic ones, what the Theater that will host our meeting this afternoon will be like. On June 10 in Naples I expect a great contribution in this sense from the Italia Viva assembly.
