11/03/2024 (Agence Europe) – At the Leopolda 2024 Congress of European Democrats in Florence on Sunday 10 March, Matteo Renzi, former Italian Prime Minister and President of the centrist Italia Viva party, said that if elected to the European Parliament, he would propose voting against the re-election of the current President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. He said he wanted to “identify a leader, not an ideological follower”, explaining that the ‘European Green Deal’ was Ms von der Leyen’s “real failure”. He went on to say that institutional reforms within the EU were necessary, and said, with regard to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, that “we have achieved good results on Twitter, but (that) common European defence is not on the agenda”. (PLD)