Juncker to Renzi: Brussels isn’t Berlin’s puppet

Commission president rejects Rome’s claims that Angela Merkel controls EU policy.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s frustration with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi boiled over Friday morning after months of behind-the-scenes political sniping between Rome and Brussels over the EU’s political direction.

“The atmosphere between Italy and the rest of the EU is not at its best at the moment,” Juncker said during a New Year’s press conference at which he was discussing his priorities for 2016. “By the end of February I will be going to Italy because I have to tackle the issue myself.”

In his first public comments on the difficulty he’s had dealing with Renzi, the Commission president confronted the Italian leader over his recent claims that Europe’s real power center is in Berlin.

“Mr. Renzi,” Juncker said, in his first public remarks on the spat, “has always complained about the fact that I never officially went to Italy since I took up office.”

But the fact that the Commission president has not made an official trip to Italy is not the real bone of contention between the two men.

Since September the Italian prime minister has raised the pressure on the Commission on many fronts and in a variety of forums. From banking policy to energy, Renzi has not shied away from voicing his frustration about the work of the Commission and its alleged bias towards Berlin.

Renzi’s criticism peaked in December during the year’s final summit of EU leaders, when he openly attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her reluctance to complete the so-called “third leg” of the banking union, a deposit guarantee scheme in the eurozone. Renzi also objected to the involvement of German companies in a new pipeline with Russia at a time when the EU has extended sanctions against Moscow.

“I do have the feeling that Italy should not be ready to criticize the European Commission and not because I don’t accept criticism,” Juncker said Friday, rejecting the argument that he too closely follows Berlin’s political lead. “When it comes to budgetary surveillance we have introduced a significant amount of flexibility and that was against the will of some member states and particularly against the will of the country which is considered to dominate the European Union.”

“I keep my rancor [with Renzi] in my pocket,” Juncker said.

Juncker’s decision to respond publicly to Renzi also comes soon after a recent episode of backroom political intrigue that resulted from the resignation of the only Italian aide in the Commission president’s cabinet.

Italian officials said the legal expert, Carlo Zadra, had been forced from Juncker’s team for disagreeing with the Commission’s approach on migration, and hinted in press reports that the ouster was the handiwork of the president’s powerful chief of staff, German Martin Selmayr.

The Italian undersecretary of state for Europe, Carlo Gozi, told newswires the situation was “unacceptable,” though other Italian officials said Rome’s intervention was misguided because Zadra, a civil servant, is not seen as having any political affiliation or motivation.

The Rome-Brussels divide is also evident at the parliamentary level. Gianni Pittella, an Italian MEP who is president of the center-left Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament, has recently stepped up criticism of the Commission.

He said Friday in an interview with the Italian newspaper Unita’ Friday that his mainstream party’s support for the Juncker Commission is “not in doubt,” but warned that “trust will not be there forever if we don’t see a change of pace especially on the economic and social fronts.”

According to a source in the S&D group, Pittella has the support of the group to take a stronger position against the Commission if it continues to adhere to Berlin’s insistence on tight fiscal policy.

Another sign that Renzi is turning up the heat on Brussels: He has asked Italian MEPs who belong to his Democratic Party to come to Rome on January 22 for a meeting — the first time such an invitation has come during his premiership, according to sources.

The tensions have many Italian diplomats and officials in the EU institutions worried.

“Some of us have been warning Renzi in the last months not to pick a fight with Juncker, who is pretty famous for being vindictive,” said one Italian official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The impact of the clash could be also felt at an economic level, on the flexibility issue.

In recent months Italy has been arguing with Brussels also over its ability to exceed EU deficit rules to support economic growth. Rome’s budget plan — which, among other requests, seeks more leeway to deal with the ongoing migration crisis — is currently under scrutiny by the Commission.

Analysts and Italian commentators fear that an angry Commission could be less inclined to give a hand to Italy.

Rome says its requests are in line with the rules, which allow for emergency flexibility, but a warning came last week from Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch president of the Eurogroup. “The only thing I can say is: let’s not push,” Dijsselbloem told journalists. “Flexibility is a margin, it can be used only once.”

This article was updated to correctly identify the Italian undersecretary of state for Europe; he is Sandro Gozi.

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