Italy: League Party Works to Remove EU Flag From Public Offices

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Facts

  • Italian Senator Claudio Borghi, of the right-wing Lega (League) party, said Thursday he proposed legislation to 'repeal' the 'law that introduced the obligation to display the European Union flag outside and inside public buildings.'1
  • In his call to repeal the 1998 law, Borghi said only the Italian national flag and those representing Italy's regions should be displayed in front of government offices.2
  • The League, which is currently polling at 9% after winning 34% in the 2019 EU Assembly election, is part of Italy's ruling coalition that includes Prime Minister Georgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (Fdl) party. Fdl is now the most popular party with 27% support.2
  • The League is also part of the EU Parliamentary coalition known as Identity and Democracy (ID) — which includes France's Rassemblement National (RN), Austria's Freedom Party (FPO), and Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.3
  • Despite currently ranking fourth in the polls, Matteo Salvini's League is the sixth-largest coalition in the European Parliament.3
  • This comes after the Eurovision Song Contest removed the EU flag from its concert hall, to which the European Commission said it wanted to have 'a very lively discussion' regarding the matter.4

Sources: 1Agenzia ANSA, 2Reuters.com, 3MarketScreener and 4ABC News.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by spanish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu. European nations have proudly flown the EU flag since the days of the Council of Europe. The flag, as well as the European anthem, represents the bloc's motto, 'United in Diversity.' The 27-member bloc believes in honoring its individual sovereign nations as well as the combined strength of the union, and this flag should be flown proudly.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by europeanconservative.com. European elites use the EU flag as a way to prioritize the collective bloc over their own countries and people, effectively disgracing the history and sovereignty of their own nations. The EU is not a country, and those who don't like national sovereignty should not be imposing their will on the majority who do. There should be no obligation to fly the EU flag.

Predictions