EU vote a 'referendum on opposing visions' of Europe: Italy PM

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Saturday characterised next week's European elections, where far-right parties like hers are expected to gain ground, as a "referendum between two opposing visions of Europe".

Meloni's post-fascist Brothers of Italy party triumphed in September 2022 national elections and is hoping for a repeat performance in the European Parliament elections, held in Italy on June 8 and 9.

"We are at a turning point and it is as if it were a sort of referendum between two opposing visions of Europe," she told thousands of supporters at a rally in central Rome.

"The EU must be a partner of nation states, not a superstructure that suffocates nation states."

In an hour-long speech to a rally in Rome's historic Piazza del Popolo, in front of a banner saying: "With Giorgia, Italy Changes Europe", she said now was the time for a similar change across the EU.

"We have a clear objective... build a right-wing government in Europe too and send definitively into opposition the left... who have done so much damage to our continent in all these years," she said.

She accused the EU of focusing too much on regulation -- particularly on green issues -- accusing it of becoming a "paradise for bureaucrats" and a "hell for those who do business".

Surveys predict Europe's far-right parties will surge in the EU vote, although mainstream players are still expected to end up ahead.

Meloni is leader of one of two far-right groups in the parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR).

The other is the Identity and Democracy group that includes the National Rally of France's Marine Le Pen and Germany's AfD.

They are notably divided over attitudes to Russia, with Meloni's ECR strongly supportive of Ukraine as it defends itself against Moscow's invading forces.