Foreign minister Antonio Tajani has urged Italy's centre-left Democratic Party opposition party (PD) to lend European Commission vice-presidential nominee Raffaele Fitto the support that late conservative premier and billionaire mogul Silvio Berlusconi gave PD politician Paolo Gentiloni when he became economy commissioner.
"I PD will have the same conduct that Berlusconi had towards Gentiloni, when he was appointed commissioner," Tajani told Rome-based Il Messaggero daily in an interview on Wednesday.
"Not only did he (Berlusconi) support him with (his party) Forza Italia's votes, but while an MEP he personally attended Gentiloni's commission hearings," Tajani went on.
"It was a way to signal that the entire Italian system wanted to support our commissioner, regardless of his political affiliation," he added.
"Elly Schlein should behave like this," Tajani said, referring to the PD's current leader.
Fitto's naming as executive vice-president for cohesion and reforms "is a mark of recognition of the work done by Italy," Tajani said.
Fitto, one of the more moderate figures in premier Giorgia Meloni's hard-right Brothers of Italy party, as been serving as European affairs minister with responsibility for the multi-billion EU-funded post-Covid national recovery plan.
"I appreciate von der Leyen's balanced choices," Tajani said, referencing the European Commission's re-elected vice-president.
"The (centre-right) European People's party is the pivot of this Commission," Tajani underlined.
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