Patriots for Europe group face first rift as RN rejects Lega’s VP pick

4 months ago 20

Cracks are appearing in the newly formed far-right Patriots for Europe group, with France’s Rassemblement National opposing Italy’s Lega’s proposal for the vice presidency of the group.

Lega’s pick, General Roberto Vannacci, became a controversial figure following the publication of his book “Il mondo al contrario”, which means “The World Upside Down”.

In his book, he claimed that homosexuals were not “normal”, claimed that “Italians have white skin, statistics say so,” and described abortion as “an unfortunate necessity that women are forced to undergo”.

After being suspended from the defence ministry for 11 months and facing several court cases, Vannacci ran in the EU elections with Matteo Salvini’s Lega, campaigning with fascist slogans and references to the X Mas, a military formation that sided with the Nazis during the Second World War.

“Homophobic, racist, pro-Mussolini,” was how the French daily Liberation described the General on Wednesday.

Despite widespread acclaim from all parties at the group’s constitutive meeting on Monday, including from Le Pen’s RN, the party has since said it cannot support Vannacci’s appointment as vice president.

“It was only at the last moment, during Monday’s constitutive meeting, that the name of the Italian VP was given by Lega,” RN MEP Jean-Paul Garraud told Euractiv.

Addressing the confusion, he explained that Lega presented one candidate and that “the entire staff, president, and VP of the group, were elected at the same time by acclamation,’ promising that his party “will soon find a solution”.

Contacted by Euractiv, Lega refused to comment.

Garraud’s comments come after RN MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy confirmed in an interview with Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that his party opposes Vanacci’s nomination and that Lega should choose a new candidate.

Asked by Euractiv why they would oppose Vannacci’s candidacy, Tanguy referred to comments made last month by the group’s new president, Jordan Bardella.

“I was not aware of his comments, I do not share them, and I condemn them,” Bardella told BFMTV of Vanacci’s previous controversial comments, which have been deemed homophobic.

Tanguy’s position was echoed by RN spokesman Laurent Jacobelli, who was even more explicit in an interview with La Stampa.

“To be clear, this gentleman will not be the vice president of the Patriots for Europe group. It seems impossible to me,” he said.

(Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it, Paul Messad | Euractiv.fr)