Willingly revealing his talents as a tactician, he already lists the “disputed subjects” on which the right, the left and the liberals will struggle to find a “coalition contract”: joint investment in digital technology and green technologies (in response to the subsidy policies of China and the United States), the European Defense Fund of 100 billion euros, the financing of nuclear power with European money, the agricultural transition and of course the subject of migration, with a right which now advocates the mass expulsion of migrants to third countries.
Canfin, which listens to Emmanuel Macron on European issues, also phosphorus on the race for best jobs — the main positions of responsibility in the EU — which agitate the Brussels bubble as much as it indifferently in France.
The MEP has a dream, shared, he asserts, in the “presidential ecosystem”: that Mario Draghi “could play a role” at a higher level, by taking over the presidency of the Commission or the European Council, the two most coveted positions.
In his eyes, Draghi has the advantage of being “very, very aligned” with the French proposals. With his stature as ex-president of the ECB and former head of government, the Italian would, according to Canfin, have “the credibility to convince” the 27 to invest massively, including via a common loan, in the future priorities of the EU, Draghi’s hobby horse for several months.
But Draghi has two problems, Canfin continues. One: he has no partisan label. However, the main positions are distributed according to the weight of political families. The presidency of the European Commission? It should not escape the EPP. The presidency of the European Council? Socialists are certainly fighting for it. Two: being Italian, he will need the support of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “The path is not easy to find,” concedes Canfin.
Meloni maker of queens?
By default, he prefers outgoing Ursula von der Leyen to any other EPP member to chair the Commission. With her, Paris “established a working relationship and trust,” he argues.
Politices
