The man who could help Meloni build bridges with Europe

“Mr. Fitto is the perfect bridge-builder because he’s very diplomatic, and he’s politically well attuned,” said Johan van Overtveldt, a Belgian MEP in the same pan-European grouping, the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

While each EU government gets to choose who they want to sit on the 27-strong commission for the next five years before an August 30 deadline, it’s for von der Leyen to decide what job they should do. Fitto’s nomination as commissioner would signal Meloni wants to be constructive rather than a troublemaker, despite her recent clash with the EU over alleged breaches to media freedom.

Courteous and ruthless

Fitto is favorite for the job, according to people in Italy with knowledge of issue, but the prime minister still hasn’t announced her choice.

Italy wants its commissioner to have a post connected to economic issues. Not only that, it wants a super-commissioner role, a vice president, overseeing several portfolios, focusing on economic and budget policy, according to officials with knowledge of proceedings. 

Fitto’s pitch is that he knows the EU budget inside out and as Europe minister has been doing in Italy what the Commission is considering replicating across the bloc: increasing government oversight of European funding of poorer regions. In Brussels, the next budget chief will have to thread the needle between the Commission’s push for greater control and resistance from regions that want to be left alone. 

People who have worked with Fitto describe him as a “democristiano” (Christian Democrat), which in Italy’s political lexicon, is a byword for middle-of-the-road politics, courteous demeanor and ruthless pragmatism.