Italy Governing Party Sources Tell MNI FdI Looking To Join EPP Post-Election

MNI's Policy team reports that according to sources within the governing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni is looking to take the FdI into the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) political grouping in the European Parliament following the June 2024 elections. MNI reports that Meloni "...wants Brothers of Italy to join the mainstream conservative European People’s Party grouping in the bloc’s parliament and to gain more influence over the European Commission as it deliberates on key topics like NextGenerationEU, sources from Brothers of Italy told MNI." For full story see here or contact sales@marketnews.com

• There has been speculation that Meloni could seek to join the EPP, dragging the largest and most historic bloc in the Parliament towards the right. The alternative could be the FdI remaining within the conservative European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping, but seeking to form an alliance with the EPP post-elections.
• Currently the EPP, dominated by Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is outflanked on the left by the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) grouping and the liberal centrist Renew Europe (RE). The broad centrist stance of this 'grand alliance' in the European Parliament has seen some criticism from those on the right of the EPP, arguing that closer ideological links exist with the ECR than RE/S&D.
• While Meloni has sought to present a cooperative stance towards the EU since taking office, the prospect of her party working within or alongside the EPP has sparked criticism from RE and S&D politicians