“My country, right or wrong.”: a beautiful and noble statement once made by an American sailor in the early days of the American nation. We Italians have always viewed this saying with a mix of envy and admiration, seeing it as a reminder of unity that we still struggle to achieve.
The latest example comes from the European stage, specifically with the hearing of Raffaele Fitto, who is vying for the role of Executive Vice President of the new European Commission. It’s a complex issue, simplified as follows: the European Conservatives, Meloni’s group in the EU, did not vote for Von der Leyen in Parliament, yet our Prime Minister has pushed for the current Minister of the Recovery and Resilience Plan to secure this high-level position. The People’s Party, Greens, and Socialists are less than enthusiastic. And the Democratic Party, which belongs to the Socialists at the EU level, how does it respond? In short, it’s leaning toward a “no.”
The vote on Fitto’s candidacy was postponed after yesterday’s hearing, but the real question remains: would it benefit Italy more to have an Executive Vice President or merely a Vice President hamstrung by Brussels’ political games? The answer is obvious, yet Italian politics has never embraced what seems obvious. We are, unfortunately, still far from the united spirit of that American sailor, even today.
