(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 23 - League leader Matteo Salvini said Friday his rightwing party will file a censure motion against European Commission President Ursual von der Leyen for vowing to treat Italy like Hungary and Poland if the League and ally Brothers of Italy (FdI) as expected win Sunday's Italian elections and introduce nationalist policies.
    The EC on several occasions has censured Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and Poland's ruling Law and Justice party for rule-of-law and rights issues, levying sanctions against them unless they came into line with the EU's democratic values.
    The League and Fdi last week abstained in a European Parliament vote saying that Hungary under Orban was no longer a fully functioning democracy, but an autocracy.
    Orban is a key ally of the two Italian parties while Law and Justice sits in the EP conservative caucus chaired by FdI leader Giorgia Meloni, along with Spain's far right Vox party.
    Meloni, who is poised to become Italy's first woman premier and the most rightwing since the Second World War, has often praised the policies of Orban and her Polish allies.
    Von der Leyen said Thursday that if the general election ushers in an autocratic, nationalist and Euroskeptic shift then "we have the instruments, as in the cases of Poland and Hungary." However, she added that "we are ready to work with any democratic government that is disposed to work with us".
    Announcing the censure motion against von der Leyen Friday, Salvini said "it is a squalid threat, an invasion of the field that was not requested." He said "the lady represents all Europeans, her salary is paid by all of us, and it was a disgusting and arrogant threat.
    (ANSA).