Meloni ally urges EU to prepare for possible Le Pen Presidency
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The European Union should be prepared to work with Marine Le Pen if she wins France’s presidential election next April, according to Nicola Procaccini, a senior ally of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Procaccini, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, said EU institutions and the centre-right European People’s Party should be willing to engage with Le Pen’s National Rally and its European allies rather than seek to isolate them.
He argued that an informal “cordon sanitaire” could not be applied to France and described Le Pen and Jordan Bardella as pragmatic politicians who would defend French interests without seeking to take the country out of the EU. Procaccini pointed to Meloni’s experience since becoming Italy’s prime minister in 2022, when Brussels sought to establish working relations with her government.
He said he hoped Le Pen would adopt a similarly pragmatic approach towards the European Commission, while acknowledging that the French right has historically been less pro-European than Meloni’s political movement. EPP vice-president Siegfried Mureșan offered a contrasting view, saying Le Pen’s party could become more radical under her leadership.
