Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday
she was working very well with Premier Giorgia Meloni whom she
described as pro-European and anti-Putin.
She cautioned however that she would not like to work with other
members of Meloni's Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) caucus
which includes Spain's Vox and Poland's Law and Justice parties.
Von der Leyen, launching her bid to be re-elected Euroepan
Commission President for the centre-right European People's
Party (EPP), added that she had a "completely different
approach" from Meloni's regarding gay rights, with Italy being
the only western European country to have voted against a a
declaration for the promotion of European policies in favour of
LGBTQIA+ communities presented by the Belgian presidency to the
EU member states earlier this week, and Meloni having fulminated
in favour of the traditional family and against gender theory in
schools and surrogacy at Vox's Madrid summit of rightwing
parties Sunday.
"I'm working very well with Giorgia Meloni, like all the heads
of State and government, that is my job," former German defence
minister von der Leyen told a Eurovision debate of the top
candidates to head the EC after the June 8-9 European elections.
As for future alliances in Europe, she said "we'll see who are
the pro-Europeans, and she (Meloni) clearly is, and the
anti-Putins, and she has been very clear on this, and the pro
rule of law parties".
Von der Leyen, who has worked with Meloni on EU migrant deals
with Tunisia and Egypt, added: "to those who respect these
criteria, we offer to work together".
She added that Marine Le Pen's National Rally and Alternative
for Germany, who are in another rightwing caucus although AdF is
set to be kicked out after a top official said not all the SS
were bad people, wanted to "destroy Europe".
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