“The French first round is encouraging, it shows that in the clash between sovereignists and pro-Europeans, it is those who believe in a more united and stronger Europe who believe in a more united and stronger Europe, not those who aim to smash it”. The secretary of the Democratic Party Enrico Letta, called a year ago from Paris to save the Democratic Party in agony, said in an interview with Repubblica that “it is very positive that Melenchon immediately called to vote against Le Pen. A step forward compared to the last time, when he said nothing and part of his electorate moved to the right ».
According to Letta, two things are noticed after the first round. The first is «the disturbing analogy with Italy: even in France the parties that in the past have expressed great harmony with Putin represent half of the overall electorate. Here Salvini, Meloni and Berlusconi; beyond Le Pen, Melenchon and Zemmour ». The second is «radicalization. Both left and right are losing their traditional forces and the votes are shifting to extremes. The Gaullists, who took 20% in 2017, leave humiliated this time. Like the socialists, outclassed by the left-left ».
While Salvini rejoiced over Le Pen’s result, Letta says: «It is proof that we are alternatives to the Lega and that collaboration with them is exceptional and limited to this government. The fact that the Italian right sides with one like Le Pen, which aims to smash Europe, I find is an attitude contrary to our national interests. It means cheering to blow up those who give us the 200 billion of Recovery and are protecting us ». Even the yellow-green government of 2018, however, had the same “anti-system impulses, but on the big choices it never managed to cross the red line,” says the secretary.
Now, “if it happened in France it would be the first time of an anti-European, populist and anti-integration government in the heart of Europe: it would be its end”.
The problem, according to Letta, is that European liberal and progressive forces have underestimated the risk of populism. “And it continues to be underestimated because it was thought that Trump’s defeat or the obvious madness of Putin’s war was enough to weaken the right-wing parties that have always supported them,” she explains. «It was mistakenly believed that the conflict between nationalism and European integration could be resolved in favor of the latter. Unfortunately we have seen that this is not the case ».
The confirmation of the Serbian Vucic and the Hungarian Orban demonstrate this: «The existence today in Europe of a strong populism is the daughter of many things. First of all, of an objective situation of social hardship, caused by the impact of the pandemic, to which the soaring cost of living has now been added. Factors that have created a phase of serious uncertainty, of short horizons on people’s lives. For the benefit of those who blow on fears to gain consent ».
According to Letta, the French elections now teach that “we need to control the anxieties of the electorate to prevent anxiety about the future, jobs, precariousness, and the reduced purchasing power of families from accentuating radicalization. This is why Europe must accelerate to give strong and unified responses. If they did not arrive, Le Pen and Orban would play the game ».
But we must move immediately: «In the past too much has been granted to those who want to smash Europe, without understanding that not being able to build an effective Union because it is blocked by vetoes ends up favoring those who aim to weaken it. I am thinking of migration policies or common defense. Therefore, a reform of the Treaties is needed as soon as possible so that decisions are no longer taken unanimously but by a majority, otherwise the Orbans on duty will always win “.
Letta says the third recession in ten years must be avoided “at any cost. We need to sterilize the expensive bills with the intervention of Brussels and support internal consumption through a strong wage policy that the Democratic Party is asking the government to implement immediately, removing all upcoming increases in contract renewals “.
On the foreign policy front, on the other hand, while the Russian war in Ukraine “has given back breath” to NATO, according to Letta it is “necessary that the European countries and Brussels adjust their strategic compass, bearing in mind that there are three nations with which it is necessary open a strong and intense dialogue: China, India and Turkey. In recent years it has been a sensational mistake to close oneself in the Western view without understanding that everything that was outside would unite against us. We have fueled a conflict between the West and the rest of the world, which needs to be corrected ”.
And with Joe Biden’s United States there is «a convergence but not an identity of positions. This is why it is important to work for a common European defense ».
Then Letta returns to ask the government to break away from its energy dependence on Russia. “The real scandal is the billion a day we have paid to Putin since the beginning of the conflict,” he says. “I know it’s difficult but I don’t see any alternatives. If we do not want a world war with Russia we must not give in on sanctions, but build a short and long term strategy that will make us independent from Moscow ». Such as? “At the national level, alternative supplies must be sought, as Draghi and Di Maio are already doing, and push for renewables. At the European level we need to put a price-cap to stem the price of gas but above all to provide economic compensation for the countries that depend most on Russia ”.
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