If there is one thing harder than to get the EU to accept more political integration, it is to get it to accept less. Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, has been the latest leader to try to change the EU from within. Like David Cameron before her, she, too, is failing.
The EU elections in June revealed a shift in support for the right. But the result has had no impact on how Brussels is governed. After the elections, Meloni wanted to become part of the broad coalition that runs Brussels. The other leaders chose to sideline her. They wanted to stick to the current four-party coalition – made up of the centre-right, the liberals, the Socialists and the Greens. MEPs from those four groups re-elected Ursula von der Leyen with a programme similar to last time – a touch less Green, but ultimately not fundamentally different.
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