The head of Europe’s conservative parties faced an internal backlash on Tuesday over comments by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Politicians in nine countries criticized the comments and several said they planned to boycott an upcoming gathering of conservatives in Naples, Italy, if Berlusconi attended, two people with direct knowledge of the exchanges told Politico.
Berlusconi, an 86-year-old admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose Forza Italia party belongs to the wider European People’s Party (EPP) grouping, Outrage spread over the weekend When he told the Italian media that Zelensky could have avoided Russia’s invasion if only he had not attacked the “two autonomous republics of Donbass” in Ukraine. Berlusconi also said that he “judged this gentleman’s behavior very, very negatively.”
The comments enraged other members of the EPP, whose official line is one of firm support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, sparking a crisis inside the EU’s largest political grouping, whose members include members of the Commission. Speaker Ursula von der Leyen and Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola.
Anger boiled over during a gathering of national EPP delegations in Strasbourg, with representatives from Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, Luxembourg and Belgium all standing up to criticize Berlusconi’s comments and EPP chief Manfred Weber to speak out against him publicly, people with direct knowledge said.
“Putin uses not only the Eastern Front. He uses all means to activate all proxies on the Western Front,” said Rasa Juknevicin, a Lithuanian lawmaker. “Many delegations will not go to Naples if Berlusconi is there.”
Another legislator compared Berlusconi to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, while the head of the Polish delegation, Andrzej Haliecki, echoed that line, saying that it was “unacceptable” for Berlusconi to remain head of Forza Italia. Antonio Tajani, also of Forza Italia, is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from the Brothers of Italy party.
The rebellion creates headaches for Weber, who is trying to forge rapprochement with Meloni’s government in an effort to broaden the EPP’s base ahead of European Parliament elections in 2024. Meloni’s government.
A representative for Weber had no immediate comment about the mutiny. But according to people with direct knowledge of the exchanges, Weber rose to respond to the criticism, saying: “We have the Berlusconi problem, but not the Forza Italia problem. In tomorrow’s plenary debate, I will stick completely to my line on Ukraine.” Let me be clear. We should also note that Meloni’s statements were closer to ours than Berlusconi’s. Meloni’s office emphasized that Rome supports Ukraine.
Weber did not say whether the meeting in Naples would go ahead and whether Berlusconi would attend.