Italy's Divisive Meloni Sets Tone On EU Migration File

Huddling with the bloc's top officials and driving the agenda on the headline issue of migration, Italy's Giorgia Meloni was front and centre as EU leaders converged on Brussels this week

Brussels, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Oct, 2024) Huddling with the bloc's top officials and driving the agenda on the headline issue of migration, Italy's Giorgia Meloni was front and centre as EU leaders converged on Brussels this week.

On Thursday, the hard-right prime minister hosted a pre-summit gathering of a dozen immigration hawks attended -- controversially -- by EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Meloni's meeting set the tone for the day's discussions by all 27 leaders, where Rome's recent deal to send some migrants to Albania was a hot topic.

It was a turnaround for the Italian leader who only months ago appeared sidelined on the European scene, having refused to back von der Leyen's re-election, and some observers saw this as a further sign of Brussels's rightward tilt.

A day earlier, during a gathering with Gulf leaders, the commission head was pictured locked in conversation with Meloni.

"Von der Leyen understands where the political winds are blowing," said political analyst Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform think-tank.

The EU chief's participation in Meloni's "mini-summit" on migration a day later raised the gathering's profile and arguably gave more legitimacy to positions considered as fringe only a few months ago.

It also upset some on the left.

"We must not bow down to far-right fear mongering and populist propaganda on migration," said Bas Eickhout, an EU lawmaker and a leader of the Greens, which, contrary to Meloni, helped von der Leyen get re-elected this summer.

A European Commission spokeswoman on Friday downplayed the controversy, saying it was von der Leyen's role to talk with member states and attend such meetings.

At the summit, EU leaders eventually approved a text calling for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up migrant returns -- a topic dear to the right.

They also called for the EU to explore "new ways" to counter irregular migration, an apparent nod to possible schemes inspired by the Italy-Albania deal.

- 'Cut down to size' -

While so-called "return hubs" did not get an outright mention in the text and faced opposition from big countries like Spain and Germany, Meloni crowed on X.

"Almost all of Europe is discussing our initiatives to curb irregular migration," she wrote on the social media platform.

Co-organised with Denmark and the Netherlands, Italy's migration talks brought together centre and hard-right governments, with Hungary, Slovakia, Greece and Poland among those in attendance.

Members of Meloni's Brothers of Italy party have expressed hope that the initiative was a harbinger of cooperation in other areas -- such as a push for "more moderate" climate reforms.

"We are confident that if we can work without preconceptions, we will be able to assert our reasons," said EU lawmaker Nicola Procaccini, who co-chairs the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament.

Within the legislature, the ECR is perceived as more moderate than the far-right Patriots for Europe group, which include the likes of Marine le Pen's National Rally (RN) and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz parties, parliamentary sources say.

This year it made the jump into EU governance by claiming a vice-presidency in von der Leyen's new European Commission for Raffaele Fitto, currently Italy's European Affairs minister.

Encapsulating her return to centre-stage, Meloni stood at the heart of the "family photo" of EU leaders on Thursday -- her hands confidently on the shoulders of Council president Charles Michel.

Meloni has benefited from the partial vacuum left by Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, observers say. Traditionally in the driving seat at EU level, the leaders of France and Germany have been weakened by political setbacks at home.

"Macron was an oversized figure on the European stage, and now France has been very much cut down to size," said Scazzieri.

Yet, the analyst cautioned against overplaying Italy's influence.

Fitto's commission portfolio was not "as powerful as his title suggests," Scazzieri said, and while Meloni was authoritative on migration the same was not true in other domains.

On other dossiers such as the economy, he pointed out that Italy "needs the European Commission on board" to secure continued EU funding.

"Therefore it's just much less influential," he said.