After Donald Trump’s election victory in the US, the European Union (EU) is also moving further to the right. On Wednesday, the European Parliament confirmed the new EU Commission, an alliance of conservatives, liberals and social democrats with the far-right ECR (European Conservatives and Reformers) group, in which the Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Polish Law and Justice Party of Jarosław Kaczyński dominate.

The repeatedly invoked “firewall” against the far right has thus been exposed as a hoax. The right-wing extremists are needed to drive the escalation of the Ukraine war, the military buildup, the reorganization of the economy, and the associated attacks on the social and democratic rights of the working class that make up the program of the new commission.

Wednesday’s vote was preceded by a months-long tug of war, in which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the leader of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) group, Manfred Weber, played the leading roles. Von der Leyen insisted on giving Meloni confidant Raffaele Fitto a prominent position in the new commission. He has now received it. The member of the fascist Fratelli d’Italia will be responsible for the billion-dollar regional fund and is one of the Commission’s six vice presidents.

The Social Democrats and the Greens feared that open cooperation with the right-wing extremists would further discredit them. They helped von der Leyen to a second term in office in July with their votes and justified this, among other things, with the claim that it was necessary to keep the right-wing extremists out of power. The deputies of the Fratelli d’Italia did not support von der Leyen at that time.

Ultimately, a decision was sealed by the intervention of Social Democratic Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to help Fitto achieve his breakthrough. Sánchez forced the Spanish leader of the Socialist parliamentary group, Iratxe García Pérez, to give up her opposition to Fitto. In return, the Conservatives gave up their blockade to the Spanish Commissioner Teresa Ribera, who will now also get a vice presidential post and is responsible for competition and the green transition.

The Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals signed a joint agreement that establishes three criteria for cooperation with other parties: the rule of law, endorsement of the EU and support for Ukraine. However, only the latter criterion is decisive. Since Meloni supports the NATO offensive against Russia, she fulfils the criteria, even though she is changing the political and cultural life of Italy according to her fascist ideas.

As a result of the agreement, six other Commissioners-designate also received approval from the European Parliament’s subcommittees, which had previously blocked them. This includes the Hungarian Olivér Várhelyi, a close confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is now responsible for health and animal welfare in the Commission.

Orbán’s party Fidesz is a member of the third largest group in the European Parliament, Patriots for Europe (PfE), which also includes the French Rassemblement National, the Belgian Vlaams Belang, the Dutch Partij voor de Vrijheid of Geert Wilders, the Austrian Freedom Party, the Italian Lega, the Spanish Vox and the Portuguese Chega.

Von der Leyen and Weber have been working with the Italian fascists for a long time. Weber already supported Meloni’s far-right alliance in the 2022 election campaign and, despite her fascist roots, campaigned for the Fratelli to join the conservative EPP.

Von der Leyen has worked closely with Meloni to seal off Europe from refugees and has developed a close, friendly relationship with her. In July 2023, the two traveled to Tunisia together with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to agree to a migration agreement with the authoritarian ruler Kais Saied.

The main objectives of the new commission are the escalation of the war against Russia and military rearmament. Von der Leyen emphasized this again on Wednesday when she campaigned for the approval of her commissioners in parliament.

She pushed for higher defense spending. Russia spends up to 9 percent of its economic output on defense, while the EU spends only 1.9 percent, she claimed. “There’s something wrong with this equation, our defense spending needs to go up,” she declared. The defense industry must be strengthened and joint European defense projects must be developed, she added. Additional expenditures of €500 billion over 10 years are under discussion.

Von der Leyen has specifically created the post of a new Commissioner for Defense to intensify rearmament. The former head of government of Lithuania Andrius Kubilius, a vicious warmonger who is considered persona non grata in Russia, got the post. After the right-wing coup in Ukraine in 2014, Kubilius was an adviser to the then pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko.

The office of the EU High Representative also went to an uncompromising war advocate from the Baltic states. Former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas takes over from Spanish Josep Borrell. Kallas and Kubilius are to submit a strategy paper within 100 days.

Another key project of the new Commission is to strengthen the competitiveness of the economy in the escalating global trade war, which in practice means increased exploitation of the working class. The former French Foreign Minister and confidant of President Macron, Stéphane Séjourné, will play a key role here as Industry Commissioner.

The Green Deal, announced by von der Leyen at the beginning of her first term, will be scaled back. The Conservatives, who represent 15 of the 26 Commissioners—five went to the Liberals, four to the Social Democrats and two to the far right—already argued in their election program for a move away from the ban on the internal combustion engine and from other environmental protection measures that are not in the profit interests of the economy.

The EU Commission is responding to Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his threats of import tariffs, trade war measures and military force like capitalist governments around the world: It is appealing to him, arming itself and attacking the working class. That is why Meloni and her fascists are welcomed with open arms in the EU Commission.

Meloni is not only a far-right figure, she also has, next to Viktor Orban, the best connections to Trump and his fascist entourage of all European heads of government.

Multibillionaire Elon Musk was a star guest at the Fratelli d’Italia political festival in 2023 and exuberantly praised Meloni for her brutal migration policy. When she received the Atlantic Council’s “Global Citizen Award” in 2024, Musk gave the eulogy at her request. She described him as an “incredible genius.” Trump’s then chief ideologist Steve Bannon had already welcomed Meloni to her party’s annual political festival in 2018.

It is significant that all the so-called “centrist parties” voted for the right-wing Commission, even if, as is customary in the European Parliament, there were deviations by individual MEPs. In addition to the Christian Democrats, Liberals and Social Democrats and the far-right ECR, this also applies to the Greens, who did not themselves get a commissioner.

The German co-chair of the Green parliamentary group, Terry Reintke, criticized the alliance with the right-wing extremists, as well as Fitto’s appointment as vice president but nevertheless voted for the Commission. This was not easy for her, she told German public broadcaster ARD, but the election was ultimately about securing the EU’s ability to act. In addition, von der Leyen had promised her that she would seek her majorities from the “center” parties.

The opportunism and reactionary character of the Greens could not be demonstrated more clearly. In the face of growing international tensions and class conflicts, all of the capitalist parties are marching together to the right.