The Italian leader Giorgia Meloni says a cabal of EU leaders behave like “oligarchs” and favour pro-EU centrists for prime jobs
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Smoke-filled rooms may be a thing of the past in literal terms in Brussels but they still exist in the metaphorical sense. When it comes to dishing out the big offices of the European Union’s commission, horsetrading is the order of the day. In this, size matters — both in national terms and in the weight of the pan-European party alliances that compose the European parliament. And, as always, it is Germany and France who tend to dominate. Even more so since the departure from the EU of the United Kingdom, which could be relied upon to throw the odd spanner in the works when it thought necessary. But this cosy arrangement is coming under renewed pressure.
There is a new troublemaker on the block.