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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   35361 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022

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I'd say that thus far the reaction to Meloni by "official" Europe has been a bit subdued. After all, she's not a hard euroskeptic and not anti-NATO; those are probably far more important regarding how the institutions view challengers than any cultural war issues or even fascist legacies. Besides, her party and coalition are a known quality, they've already been in government previously (under Berlusconi). There's going to be a lot of rhetoric going back and forth, but the actual EU reaction depends on whether the Meloni government consciously goes on a warpath with EU, like Orbán has done.

I'm pretty sure the only reason she's not openly euroskeptic is because the failure (perceived or actual) of Brexit has poisoned the well of euroskepticism for mainstream politicians on the continent. Perhaps also because she feels she will be able to find ideological allies within the EU (namely Duda and Orbán). In the abstract, euroskepticism should be a very natural corollary of her fundamental beliefs: anti-globalist, anti-liberal, pro-nation-state.

I think most EU officials (the ones smarter than Von der Leyen) have been silent so far in order to not increase Meloni’s support even more. Random Eurocrats warning you against voting a certain way is usually a strong reason for voting that way.

Von Der Leyen went beyond warning, she threatened the people of Italy if they voted for Meloni. The only thing worse than nationalism is globalism. I love Meloni and I understand why the evil politicians in Germany and France hate her, but I don't understand why ordinary people do, unless they just go with the media flow.

Yeah, but there's no such necessity any more, with the election gone.

My best bet is that they are waiting for Meloni's move before declaring war. She was explicitly endorsing the pro-NATO sentiment during the campaign and claimed to not have any intentions to mess with the Euro. But everyone can see that her other stated goals as well as her coalition partners are going to push her towards confrontation with the EU on these subjects.

The best course of action for a eurocrat at this point would be to wait and make sure Meloni doesn't have to get into public confrontations with the EU.

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