Manfred Weber, EPP boss and CSU deputy, praised Berlusconi as the “guardian of pro-European politics” during the election campaign in Italy. Party leader Söder has no understanding for this: “It is not the task of bourgeois parties to enable right-wing national governments.”
CSU boss Markus Söder has reprimanded his party deputy Manfred Weber for his support for the controversial Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi. Weber is head of the European People’s Party (EPP). The party family also includes Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which received around eight percent of the vote in Sunday’s election. The party aims to participate in government as part of a right-wing alliance with the far-right Fratelli d’Italia – who became the strongest force – and the right-wing populist Lega.
“Forza Italia is not the partner that we consider right,” said Söder in Munich. “It’s not the job of the EPP and bourgeois parties to enable right-wing national and right-wing extremist governments, that’s not our job,” he added. In an election campaign video, Weber praised Berlusconi as the guardian of pro-European politics in Italy.
At the time, leading European politicians from the SPD, Greens, FDP and Left Party sharply criticized Weber’s campaign support. SPD politician Katarina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament, said they are cooperating with “anti-democrats” to keep themselves in power. The spokesman for the German Greens in Parliament, Rasmus Andresen, said: “Berlusconi is a shady politician who has had to answer several times for corruption and other affairs.” It is strange that Weber supports Berlusconi so openly.
Söder emphasized that the CSU will in future focus more on the well-being of the people in the autonomous Italian Alpine region of South Tyrol. “There is very, very great concern there after yesterday evening,” said the Bavarian Prime Minister. Neo-fascist groups in Rome have a long tradition of more than critically questioning the autonomy efforts in South Tyrol.
Söder also regretted the poor performance of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) in the elections in the Austrian state of Tyrol. “Obviously, the block handling did not bring the desired yield that one had hoped for,” said Söder. Bavaria and Tyrol have been arguing for a long time about block handling of trucks on the Tyrolean side – this leads to long traffic jams on Bavarian roads. He hopes that the ÖVP can still form a stable state government and that this can then lead to a new beginning in relations with Bavaria.
