Meloni rails against 'oligarchs' amid EU top jobs row

ROME

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vented her anger on Wednesday over her exclusion from negotiations over the EU's top jobs, saying unnamed leaders were acting like "oligarchs" and betraying voters.

Her complaint comes on the eve of a two-day summit of the European Union's 27 leaders in Brussels intended to divide up the jobs in the wake of this month's European Parliament elections.

Six leaders acting as chief negotiators reached a deal on June 25 to divvy up the key posts among the alliance dominating the parliament: The center-right European People's Party (EPP) and its partners, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist Renew Europe.

Meloni pointed the finger at "those who argue that citizens are not mature enough to make certain decisions, and [believe] that oligarchy is basically the only acceptable form of democracy."

"I am not of this opinion. I have fought this surreal principle in Italy and I intend to fight it in Europe too," she said in a speech to parliament.

The six negotiators were Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for the EPP, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the S&D, and French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for Renew.

The Italian PM believes the election success of her hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping, shaping up as the EU parliament's third force, should be reflected in the bloc's leadership.

Meloni said she was "not surprised" that some leaders were attempting "clearly to maintain power even from positions of weakness."