Three days before the Italian general elections of 4 March 2018, the current President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, took to the social networks to confirm his availability to serve Italy in the event of victory for the party Forza Italia.
He was responding to an appeal from his political mentor, Silvio Berlusconi, who propelled him into the role of European Commissioner and without whom his political career is unlikely to have taken such a turn.
Tajani is paying dearly for this political gaffe in terms of his credibility and will continue to do so until the end of his term in office. He has as good as publicly stated that he sees being head of the national government as better than being the President of the European Parliament, although he now aspires to stay on after the European elections of May.
Since then, sensing that the political tide is turning in favour of populist and Europhobic discourse, Tajani is now upping the ante, which he thinks will keep him in step with his fellow citizens.
In mid-September, when Tajani’s own Christian Democrat family at the European Parliament was openly split over the attitude of the Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Forza Italia mostly voted against the EP’s unprecedented move of triggering the so-called ‘article 7’ procedure over the rule of law in Hungary. Tajani, who was not called upon to vote due to his position, nonetheless criticised the initiative as being more akin to an attack on his own group than a vote on compliance with the fundamental European values. “It’s not about turning a blind eye, it’s about applying the same rules to all”, he said. He specifically meant Slovakia, Romania and Malta, three member states governed by Social Democrats.
As an Italian politician, Tajani is all too familiar with the migration challenge facing the EU and its impact on the political dynamic in his country, in the absence of a resolutely European response. He regularly takes the floor to urge member states to reach an agreement on the reform of the European asylum system that takes its inspiration from the position of the European Parliament, which includes compulsory distribution quotas for asylum seekers. He has been unsuccessful, but this is one area in which Tajani plays his part to the full.
But since the victory of Movimento 5 Stelle and Lega in Italy’s general elections in March, there is no mistaking the semantic slide of Tajani’s narrative, which has begun to borrow from the ‘anti-immigration’ discourse of the far right. On Wednesday 12 September, the day that the state of the union debate launched in Strasbourg, Tajani posted a video on his personal Twitter account in which he stated: “we need an ambitious Marshall Plan for Africa and we want to defend the borders of the EU to prevent an invasion of illegal immigrants”.
Invasion. To invade means to occupy territory in order to take control of it and, ultimately, to dominate it. Is that where we are, or even where we could be? As someone who is ultimately more than familiar with the subject, Tajani knows full well that at the end of summer 2018, migration flows from Libya to Italy bore no relation to the 2015 figures. The 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey, tightened surveillance of the external borders of the EU, together with unilateral measures to close Italian ports made by the Italian Home Affairs Minister, Matteo Salvini, have contributed to a sharp drop in migration flows in the Central Mediterranean, although a deviation of the migration routes towards Western Europe has been observed. Fewer people arrive on European beaches in search of a better future in Europe, but more of them die at sea, out of sight.
At the end of last year, Tajani crossed swords with the Conte government over the draft Italian budget for 2019, which the Commission found to breach the European budgetary rules. That is as it may be, but when attacking the citizens’ revenue, which is so close to the heart of Movimento 5 Stelle and one of the most emblematic measures of the Italian budget, Tajani went off course again, warning: “the citizens’ revenue will end up in the pockets of Roma and foreign citizens” who have been resident for more than 10 years.
On Sunday 10 February, at a commemoration service for the victims of the foibe massacres of 1945, when supporters of Tito summarily executed fighters and civilians, some of whom were Italian, which he attended alongside Salvini, Tajani exclaimed: “Long live Trieste, long live Italian Istria, long live Italian Dalmatia!” Then, following an avalanche of official criticism from the Croatian and Slovenian authorities and a petition calling for his resignation, Tajani apologised for the misunderstanding his comments had caused, stressing that they should in no way be interpreted as a claim on the land.
In his most recent controversy, in an interview with the Italian radio on Tuesday 12 March, the Christian Democrat leader praised the legacy of Benito Mussolini the builder, stating that his actions had benefited many areas of Italy, albeit rejecting the fascism, warmongering and racial policies of the Italian dictator. The reaction came from all sides: the GUE/NGL group at the EP called for Tajani to step down and the Greens/EFA accused him of “abusing his role as President of the European Parliament to campaign in national Italian politics”.
Tajani, who is still seen as a possible runner in the event of the collapse of the Italian populist government, is following on from his predecessor’s approach, making the case for the extreme politicisation of the position of EP President. However, the list of alleged or uncontrolled slips is growing dangerously long in this pre-election period, when what the President of the Parliament says comes under particular scrutiny to give meaning to the European project. Tajani cannot pretend to be surprised that his comments are met with incomprehension. And he cannot use the platform his position gives him to pursue a personal agenda with contentious statements that do not represent the majority view at the European assembly.
Basically, that’s not the sort of thing a President of the European Parliament should be saying…
Mathieu Bion