Is it Possible to Change EU Policy After the Elections?

© REUTERS / Jon NazcaThe Union Jack (bottom) and the European Union flag are seen flying, at the border of Gibraltar with Spain, in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, historically claimed by Spain, June 27, 2016, after Britain voted to leave the European Union in the EU Brexit referendum
The Union Jack (bottom) and the European Union flag are seen flying, at the border of Gibraltar with Spain, in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, historically claimed by Spain, June 27, 2016, after Britain voted to leave the European Union in the EU Brexit referendum - Sputnik International
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Italy's right-wing League Party, led by the country's deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, has claimed victory in the European elections. The party was expected to do well and it did, securing 33% of the votes. After the results came in, Salvini said that "this is a vote that allows us to try to change Europe."

The League wasn't alone; other nationalist and Eurosceptic parties delivered as well. In France, Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally celebrated a win over President Emmanuel Macron's 'En Marche!'

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Meanwhile, in the UK, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party came out on top after the failure of Prime Minister Theresa May to take the country out of the European Union on time.

Italian politician Matteo Bianchi, who's an MEP from the League Party, the head of the XIV Committee on Community Policies and member of the Italian parliamentary delegation to NATO described how he expects to see the policies of the European Union change after the elections.

"We consider the EU to be a body that's too bureaucratic, that does not take into account the interests of all people across Europe that it represents," he said adding that "the legislative process in the EU comes from above, from Brussels, from where they are trying to erase all the differences between and among European states, from Finland to Portugal, from France to Greece."

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"Europe will be able to look into the future only if it involves all states in the decision-making process at the European level from top to bottom. This is what a true European approach is," he explained.

According to the politician, there's a power vacuum in Europe. The more influential countries from a political and economic standpoint, primarily Germany, tend to use their position to the detriment of other European nations. He argues that instead, the EU should try to find a common ground and respect the interests of all countries in the bloc.

Bianchi expressed regret that some European countries, including Italy, have fallen "out of favour" with Brussels, which has deemed them not "loyal" enough because of their "budget deficit-GDP ratio", which is why these countries aren't granted the permission or money for some reforms.

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Meanwhile, "the EU allocates billions of euros to dubious programmes in various countries, without even questioning where this money is going," according to him.

"Considering the needs of Italy for its domestic policy, we, as representatives elected by citizens of our country, will demand a different approach to the distribution of funds. We cannot be guided exclusively by geopolitical interests, when the interests of the EU people suffering from the so-called "austerity policies" are not taken into account at all," the Italian MEP stressed.

Bianchi said of international relations that "currently, the EU does not have a foreign policy that would represent the interests of all member states," noting that this has helped foster large-scale international crises like the ones in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.

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