Italian parties (and their respective alliances) dramatically diverged over a European parliament resolution that set out to counter authoritarian practices in Russia and Belarus.
The vote happened in the wake of Wednesday’s rousing speech from European Commission’s president Ursula Von der Leyen about stepping up the EU’s foreign policy efforts and upholding human rights around the world.
The European parliament resolution approved the opening of an international investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposer Alexei Navalny, seeking to shed light into the Kremlin’s role in employing chemical weapons, illegal under international law. It also reinforced existing sanctions against Moscow.
This happened the same day Mr Navalny’s staff announced that traces of the Russian nerve agent Novichok were found in a water bottle in his hotel room in Tomsk, which he left the day he fell ill. The Kremlin denies any involvement and rejects opening an inquiry citing the lack of legal grounds.
However, not all the Italian MEPs fell in line with their European colleagues. Their votes also reflected the diverging opinions of Italian parties that are nonetheless allied through coalitions back in Rome.
Matteo Salvini’s League voted against the resolution. Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, allied to the League through the centre-right coalition, abstained from the vote. And the third member of this alliance, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, greenlighted it.
The governing coalition also split over the issue. The Five Star Movement (which is somewhat leaderless at the moment) also abstained from the vote, whereas Nicola Zingaretti’s Democratic Party approved the resolution.
The same day, another European parliament resolution levied sanctions against Belarus’ controversial president Alexander Lukashenko, as well as his entourage, over their suspected rigging of presidential elections and violent handling of the weeks-long protests that have been sweeping through the country. The League refrained from voting, while all the other Italian parties approved it.
“In Brussels the League abstained from condemning a dictator. Disgusting,” tweeted Mr Zingaretti, seemingly turning a blind eye to his allies’ abstention from the Navalny vote.
Formiche.net reached out Edward Lucas, vicepresident at the Center for European Policy Analysis. When asked about the Belarusian crisis, he expressed his disappointment towards the MEPs voting “against who fights for freedom, defying Europe’s last dictator,” and said that the sanctions are a “necessary, but not sufficient” measure.
Mr Lucas called the situation in Minsk a “paradox. It looks like the regime is condemned, but it hasn’t fallen yet. There’s a sort of stalemate, where the opposition goes away and the regime doesn’t admit defeat.”
He then argued that the situation required more pressure on the Belarusian regime to end the arrests and start communicating with the opposition. He added that Europe must take “much more” affirmative action, ramp up pressure on the Kremlin and lead it to stop supporting the regime, refrain from sending troops or money, and thus avoid contributing to the crisis.
It is no secret that the League is closest to Russia among Italian parties. Time and again, Mr Salvini has expressed his admiration and support for its president, Vladimir Putin, and a few investigations currently underway are examining a possible link between the League and Moscow through illicit funding (still unconfirmed).
And yet, not all other Italian parties agree on the need to keep Russia in check, if the abstention of Five Star and Brothers of Italy MEPs over the Navalny affair are anything to go by. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party and Forza Italia proved yet again the most aligned with Brussels’ values.
