The candidate for the Italian legislative elections for the Mais Europa party and former European Commissioner Emma Bonino defends the revision of European treaties in the sense of creating a federal Europe.
As part of a busy campaign for Italy’s early elections on September 25, in which the parties, most of which are aligned in two main blocs, centre-left and centre-right, appear to be increasingly divided between pro and anti-European. Union, the digital publication Euractiv Italia spoke with Emma Bonino, 74 years old and with a long national and international political career, always under the banner of greater European integration.
In the interview, the leader of the Mais Europa formation, part of the center-left bloc headed by Enrico Letta’s Democratic Party (PD), which initially also included Carlo Calenda’s Ação formation, an ally he later lost, underlined the seriousness the confrontation between these two opposing points of view.
They are those who want to return to national sovereignty, fiercely defended by the right-wing bloc, made up of the far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI), led by Giorgia Meloni, and Liga, by Matteo Salvini, and by the conservative party Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia —although “during the campaign he toned down that anti-European discourse a bit, to get more votes,” Bonino estimated— and the center-left bloc, which “wants to build true European sovereignty.”
“It is obvious to us, from the name we gave the ‘More Europe’ party three years ago, that we believe the European Union has been a great success. From my point of view, there are still important pieces missing: not only the Europe of defense, but also that of foreign policy, because without foreign policy I don’t even know what defense is,” said Emma Bonino.
“Who decides if an EU army should go to Mali instead of somewhere else? It is certainly a political responsibility, not something that can be decided by the head of the Armed Forces”, he observed, before adding: “Fortunately, Europe is our only destination”.
In his opinion, “whoever, for whatever reason, wants to weaken or destroy the EU is playing [Presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin, of [primeiro-ministro húngaro, Viktor] Orbán, etc., whether you like it or not.”
Russia rejects ‘strange’ accusations of meddling in Italian elections
“Putin has been explicit in several speeches that he prefers to negotiate with individual states. On the contrary, we are convinced that, despite its possible limitations, Europe is also important for some negotiations”, he commented.
“I realize that now everyone is pro-European on Sunday, and there are those who want a Europe of health, or gas and energy, or against tax evasion, etc. But no one or very few are committed to creating a European Political Union, and bringing order to Italian bills and legislation”, she underlined, adding: “I think this is a mistake”.
According to the former European Commissioner, “The main political division is no longer between the left and the right, or just between them, but between the pro-Europeans and those who are against Europe”.
“Now, those who are against the EU have repositioned themselves a bit, but it seems to be only for electoral purposes,” he said.
One of the reasons why the resignation of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Mario Draghi triggered a crisis in Italy is related to the conditions agreed with Brussels for the payment of the installments of the post-covid economic recovery plan (PRR). -19.
Asked by Euractiv Italy about the importance of a rapid application of these funds in the country and about whether the intention expressed by some political forces to renegotiate the PRR could give an opportunity to those who question the amount allocated to the country, arguing that the approximately 35% Of these funds that Italy has obtained are disproportionate (it was the country that was granted the largest part of the PRR: 191.5 billion euros), Emma Bonino replied: “Of course you have to be very careful not to open a Pandora’s box for the who were already against the allocation of funds to Italy”.
“As I’ve said before [o comissário europeu da Economia e ex-primeiro-ministro italiano Paolo] Gentiloni, only minor changes can be made. But whoever comes up with the idea of renegotiating the PRR, in my opinion, not only lives on Mars but is telling Italian citizens to go live on Mars, ”he maintained.
According to the Italian political leader, “it is important and urgent” to create an energy and defense EU, within the scope of the aforementioned political union, due to the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (on February 24 of this year) on the situation. energy and geopolitics, for example, with Germany committing to spend €100 billion a year on defence.
“We must also be aware that Italy contributes less than 2% to the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) budget, which the United States has already pointed out to us on several occasions,” he said.
“But, I repeat, we need a common foreign policy, therefore, a change in the treaties, the end of unanimity, more powers for the European Parliament. Otherwise, in the election campaign we blow up whatever we want, but we do Europe no good, nor Italy’s credibility, which is already being severely tested”, he insisted.
“Therefore, it is essential to review the treaties to move towards a common foreign and defense policy. I think that during these years we have succumbed to an intergovernmental vision of the EU, in which the Heads of State and Government make the decisions, and that is the wrong way to go”, stressed Emma Bonino.
Source: Observadora
