Italy's Meloni picks EU funds manager Fitto for EU Commission job

Italy's Meloni picks EU funds manager Fitto for EU Commission job

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will propose European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto to serve in the next European Commission and expects an important portfolio for him, her office said on Friday.

Fitto, 55, has been the minister in charge of Italy's sluggish efforts to spend EU COVID-19 recovery funds, and meet reform targets tied to the money.

He has experience of Brussels as a former European Union lawmaker, and hails from a family of politicians, with both he and his father serving as presidents of their native southern Puglia region.

"Our choice falls on a person who has a great deal of experience and has been able to run his portfolio with excellent results: Minister Raffaele Fitto," Meloni said during a cabinet meeting, according to a statement released by her office.

The commission is the EU's powerful executive arm. It proposes legislation and polices the bloc's rules, including on budget discipline and antitrust matters.

Its president Ursula von der Leyen, who was elected in July to serve a second five-year term, has to make up her 27-member team using names put forward by EU national governments.

It falls upon her, however, to pick portfolios for the proposed commissioners, who then have to face confirmation hearings before the European Parliament.

Italy is hoping for a heavyweight position, such as a vice presidency with a major role, despite Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party voting against von der Leyen when the EU parliament approved her in July.

"Although I see many Italians rooting against an appropriate role for our nation (in the next commission), I have no reason to believe that role will not be recognised," Meloni added.

Fitto is one of the more moderate members of Meloni's hard-right FdI, having previously been a Christian Democrat and then a member of late Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.