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EU warns against euroscepticism as populists prepare to govern Italy

EU leaders expressed concern on Friday about the rise of populism within the bloc, fuelled by the migrant crisis, as Italy came a step closer to forming its first anti-establishment government.

Published: 11 May 2018 17:32 CEST

EU warns against euroscepticism as populists prepare to govern Italy

Antonio Tajani. Photo: Patrick Hertzog/AFP

“Being a good Italian also means being a good European citizen. It needs to be repeated out loud, especially now,” EU parliament head Antonio Tajani said at the State of the Union conference in the Tuscan city of Florence.

Italy's populist Five Star Movement and far-right League party are currently locked in negotiations to form a coalition to lead the country. Should they succeed, the new government would represent a significant change in policy for the Eurozone's third largest economy whose outgoing government is pro-European and centre-left.

The nationalist League is particularly eurosceptic and has advocated renegotiating European treaties, and insisted the euro is doomed to fail.

“Leaving the single currency would be shooting oneself in the foot,” said Tajani, in what appeared to be a direct warning to the League.

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Addressing the conference, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was worried about the feelings of “resentment” in Europe generated by the arrival of millions of migrants on European shores in recent years.

This resentment “gave populists and nationalists the material they needed to undo solidarity” in Europe, Juncker said, adding that he was shocked by the “ruptures and cracks” that had emerged during the migrant crisis between EU member states.

“The Italian and Greek people asked loudly for more solidarity because you can not leave countries all alone … unfortunately our response was too late,” said Juncker referring to the burden felt by Europe's southern nations who have shouldered the majority of the responsibility for the new arrivals.

Both the League and M5S have promised to crack down on immigration in Italy.

On Thursday, Italian President Sergio Mattarella was also in Florence and warned against bowing to nationalism.

“To think that we can get by alone is a pure illusion or, worse, a deliberate deception aimed to sway public opinion,” he said.

READ ALSO: Italy could have a government by Sunday

Matteo Salvini (L) and Luigi Di Maio. Photos: Filippo Monteforte/Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

‘Worrying developments’: NGOs warn of growing pressure on Italian media freedom

They highlighted among their concerns the continued criminalisation of defamation – a law Meloni herself has used against a high-profile journalist – and the proposed takeover of a major news agency by a right-wing MP.

The two-day mission, led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), was planned for the autumn but brought forward due to “worrying developments”, Andreas Lamm of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) told a press conference.

The ECPMF’s monitoring project, which records incidents affecting media freedom such as legal action, editorial interference and physical attacks, recorded a spike in Italy’s numbers from 46 in 2022 to 80 in 2023.

There have been 49 so far this year.

Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, took office as head of a hard-right coalition government in October 2022.

A key concern of the NGOs is the increased political influence over the RAI public broadcaster, which triggered a strike by its journalists this month.

READ ALSO: Italy’s press freedom ranking drops amid fears of government ‘censorship’

“We know RAI was always politicised…but now we are at another level,” said Renate Schroeder, director of the Brussels-based EFJ.

The NGO representatives – who will write up a formal report in the coming weeks – recommended the appointment of fully independent directors to RAI, among other measures.

They also raised concerns about the failure of repeated Italian governments to decriminalise defamation, despite calls for reform by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Meloni herself successfully sued journalist Roberto Saviano last year for criticising her attitude to migrants.

“In a European democracy a prime minister does not respond to criticism by legally intimidating writers like Saviano,” said David Diaz-Jogeix of London-based Article 19.

He said that a proposed reform being debated in parliament, which would replace imprisonment with fines of up to 50,000 euros, “does not meet the bare minimum of international and European standards of freedom of expression”.

The experts also warned about the mooted takeover of the AGI news agency by a group owned by a member of parliament with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party – a proposal that also triggered journalist strikes.

READ ALSO: How much control does Giorgia Meloni’s government have over Italian media?

Beatrice Chioccioli of the International Press Institute said it posed a “significant risk for the editorial independence” of the agency.

The so-called Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium expressed disappointment that no member of Meloni’s coalition responded to requests to meet with them.

They said that, as things stand, Italy is likely to be in breach of a new EU media freedom law, introduced partly because of fears of deteriorating standards in countries such as Hungary and Poland.

Schroeder said next month’s European Parliament elections could be a “turning point”, warning that an increase in power of the far-right across the bloc “will have an influence also on media freedom”.

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