MILAN (Reuters) – The right-wing Brothers of Italy party, leading in polls ahead of next month’s election, will not jeopardize Italy’s access to a European Union-funded investment programme, the party’s founder was quoted as saying on Friday.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s resignation last month has paved the way to early elections on Sept. 25, with surveys suggesting the conservative alliance led by far-right Brothers of Italy is well placed to win a parliamentary majority.
“I don’t think any centre-right party would think of giving up investing an amount worth 2% of yearly GDP for five years,” Guido Crosetto told daily la Repubblica in an interview, but added he was expressing his personal view and not speaking as a party representative.
The party does not hold “euro skeptical” views, he added, labelling its abstentions when voting to approve the Recovery Plan and the national Recovery and Resilience Fund (PNRR) at both the Italian and European Parliaments as “excessive fussiness” over the various targets.
Italy is entitled to receive over 200 billion euros ($205 billion) in cheap loans and grants from the fund set up to help the bloc’s 27 countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The outgoing government has so far secured almost 67 billion euros of EU funds, but Rome now needs to clinch 55 new targets in the second half of 2022 to tap further 19 billion euros this year.
Asked if the party was able to provide the necessary political leaders to run the country, he said that while there were capable officials within the party, even if not yet widely known, it could also enlist “capable technocrats” from outside the party.
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(Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Toby Chopra)
