| After the second EU election debate, everyone talked about Ursula von der Leyen leaving the door wide open to Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Fratelli d’Italia. But does the Commission president also tolerate the party’s questionable stance on LGBTIQ+? Her answer was decidedly … evasive. By now, it is well-known that the European People’s Party (EPP) considers Meloni to be pro-European, pro-rule-of-law, and pro-Ukraine – the holy trinity of conditions that EPP European Parliament chief Manfred Weber and European Commission President and EPP Spitzenkandidaten, Ursula von der Leyen, have set for future EPP allies. It was therefore no surprise when von der Leyen reaffirmed in Thursday’s EU election debate that Meloni’s party meets the ‘Weber test’, even though subsequent sensationalist media coverage suggested otherwise. What followed after that was more telling but received less attention. “Ms Meloni’s policies on LGBTIQ+, for example, doesn’t bother you?” asked the debate host, Annelies Beck. “I have a completely different approach,” von der Leyen responded firmly. Beck pressed her: “Okay, but that’s not a red line?” And von der Leyen answered: “I am not speaking of groups, I am speaking of parliamentarians that will go to different groups.” “We will see that it’s not clear how the different groups will be composed, and how they will settle, therefore you have to choose principles, and be clear on those principles.” Any reader struggling to make sense of this answer, which provided everything but a clear principle, would be excused. A favourable interpretation of this statement is that von der Leyen considers Fratelli d’Italia’s Members of the European Parliament to be respectful of LGBTIQ+ rights – in contrast to their current hard-right ECR party family – which makes them valid partners. A less favourable one is that she was dodging the question because LGBTIQ+ rights are not at all a red line for the EPP, in its quest to clench the Commission presidency. | 