ROME. The right-wing coalition vying for power in the September 25 elections in Italycollecting votes like those who agree with them sanctions against Russia as well as those who disagree.
Head of the Brothers of Italy, Georgia Meloni, the future prime minister, if the polls are confirmed, supports without stars the policy of the Draghi government, which is fully involved in the sanctions regime against Russia. Meloni argues that the energy crisis should be addressed by limiting the cost of Russian gas, as well as decoupling the price of electricity from the price of gas.
Against, Matteo Salvini, the head of the League and an ally of Meloni, disagrees with the sanctions, noting that they will help Russia accumulate a trade surplus of $140 billion by the end of the year. “Should we defend Ukraine? Yes,” Salvini said, “but I don’t want sanctions to do more harm to those who impose them than to those against whom they are applied.”
Salvini assured that if the League entered the government, Italy “won’t change the alliances”. The guarantee was rather unnecessary, given the dominance of the League. Despite relations with Moscow and Vladimir Putin, Salvini has not changed his position during his time in office regarding Italy’s participation in sanctions against Russia. Yesterday he returned to the issue of energy, saying that it is “underestimated.” “It worries me a lot,” he said.
The outgoing foreign minister, former Five Star Movement spokesman Luigi di Maio, argued that Italians should not be forced to choose between “Meloni, who isolate us from Europe” and Salvini and Conte, “who play the Russian game.” However, Lega and Brothers of Italy agree that sanctions against Russia are taking their toll on the Italian economy. “That’s why we are asking European countries that wanted sanctions, like Italy, to set up a compensation fund. The US, the Netherlands and Germany should put one hand on their heart and the other on their wallet and help countries like Italy that have been hit by the energy crisis,” Meloni ally Ignazio la Russa said.
Source: Kathimerini
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