Italy is the first heavyweight nation to cast votes for the EU's next parliament, in a test of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni's strength at home - and future influence in the bloc.
Italy is the first heavyweight nation to cast votes for the EU's next parliament, in a test of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni's strength at home - and future influence in the bloc.
Ms Meloni cast her vote in her Rome constituency, under sweltering late spring temperatures, telling reporters that the EU contest"will shape the next five years". At the other end of the political spectrum, Carlotta Cinardi, an 18-year-old student, said she found no party that"100 percent represents my ideas" - but voted green as the"most progressive towards young people".
For the time being, Ms Meloni is keeping her cards close to her chest - though she makes clear she wants to relegate the EU's left-wing parties to the opposition.Public concern over the flow of irregular migrants across the Mediterranean was one of the key issues that propelled Ms Meloni to power in 2022.
Beyond the predicted surge, analysts say the bigger question is whether parliament's main grouping, Ms von der Leyen's European People's Party , will ally with the far-right. Both those parties - unlike Ms Meloni's - are leery of EU military and financial support to Ukraine against Russia's invading forces, with the AfD outright hostile to weapons deliveries.
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