Italy's Meloni to lead right-wing party in European elections

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday she will be her right-wing party's lead candidate in June's European elections, but will not move from Rome to Brussels if elected.

"I have decided to run in order to lead the lists of the Brothers of Italy in all constituencies," said Meloni at a major campaign rally in the Adriatic coast city of Pescara.

Meloni hopes her presence on the ballot will mobilize party supporters in the elections to choose new members of the European Parliament (MEPs), even though she will not take up her seat if successful.

Other Italian parties have taken the same approach.

Opposition leader Elly Schlein of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani of the conservative Forza Italia are also running as top party candidates - without being expected to become MEPs.

The former president of the European Commission, the veteran Italian politician Romano Prodi, has sharply criticized the practice.

In a poll published in the newspaper La Stampa on Sunday, Meloni's Brothers of Italy received the support of more than 27% of respondents. Forza Italia, founded by the late media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, achieved 8.7% and the right-wing Lega of Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini got 8.5%.

In Pescara, Meloni said the left would be sent into opposition at the European level - just as she had accomplished in Italy in 2022.

Since she came to power, Italy has once again become a "protagonist in Europe" and, for example, has had a significant influence on migration policy.

Meloni also pledged to continue supporting the Ukrainian people "against Vladimir Putin's neo-Soviet imperialism."