Matteo Renzi, Italian PM, made a clamorous step back about the candidacy of Federica Mogherini as next EU HR, denying both the sentences attributed to him earlier (and that he had never denied before, confirming them with clear comments) and the explicit statements made by member of his government and of PES. Notably, most of European leaders have made several comments about this candidacy. “Italy hasn’t presented its Commissioner yet. We are not putting any name on the table if we are not sure that we are going to have it,” Renzi said, talking about the position of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, during an interview with Alan Friedman, to be broadcast on La7, Italian broadcasting channel. “During the negotiations step all my European colleagues told me they favour an Italian candidate,” said Renzi, talking about the meetings he held with the other leaders of the European Union. He has then added he wants to wait for the European Commission new President, Juncker, to “make an official request” for an Italian name as new High Representative. Was this to happen, he said, “we will present our candidate within the end of August,” at the eve of the European Council then.
Even though the Italian Prime Minister talked about a possible candidacy of Mogherini as “an extraordinary appointment” during the interview, the possibilities of having here as HR are dramatically decreasing. Saying the government “does not want to put a name on the table” when the name has already been told – the government had even threatened to call for a ‘majority vote’ about the candidacy of Mogherini – equals to taking Mogherini off the field of the possible Italian Commissioners in the next EU executive branch. The acknowledgement made by Renzi of “a lack of certainty” for Italy to have the office of High Representative make another hypothesis more possible – Rome could be assigned another portfolio in the new Commission.
