The Italian senator and former prime minister Matteo Renzi and the former French head of government and current mayor of Le Havre, Édouard Philippe, have agreed in warning that a possible victory of Marine Le Pen in the upcoming elections in France would have harmful consequences for the process of European integration and construction.
Both intervened this Monday at the World in Progress (WIP) congress, which is being held at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, in Barcelona, and which will run until this Tuesday.
Philippe, who aspires to run in the 2027 presidential elections, has criticized the "Italianization" of French political life and has pointed out that the country has lost stability due to the appearance of three major blocs "that do not intend to work together", warning that both the far right and the radical left defend proposals whose result, he said, would be the breakdown of the European project.
"Neither of the two explicitly says that it wants to break up Europe, because that is something the French do not want," he has stated, although he emphasized that the measures they propose could lead to that outcome.
Renzi, for his part, has warned that, if the French centrist space fragments, there will be "the risk that Le Pen will face Mélenchon", in reference to the leader of La Francia Insumisa, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, while, if the center remains united and a moderate candidate faces Le Pen, this bloc would end up prevailing at the polls.
MIDTERMS
Renzi has maintained that the United States president, Donald Trump, "is going to lose the midterms" that are being held this Tuesday and that, once the elections are over, the Democratic Party will direct its attacks toward Trump's closest circle.
However, he has pointed out that Trump's attitude toward Europe will not change, since "Trump will continue to be Trump and will continue to behave like Trump.
Philippe has stressed that the North American leader seeks to "fragment Europe", since he does not want a cohesive European Union that acts as the sole interlocutor, an objective that, he has pointed out, he shares with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He has added that, later on, transatlantic relations could become more cordial, but he has insisted that Europe must keep the construction of its own sovereignty as a priority.
GENERATION Z
With regard to the youth mobilizations recorded in various European countries and, in particular, in France, Philippe has defended the need to "measure the dissatisfaction, the anguish of young people".
Renzi has regretted that the European Union has become "something full of bureaucracy" and has called for recovering the ability to generate hope among the new generations.