League leader Matteo Salvini said Friday his rightwing party will file a censure motion against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for vowing to treat Italy like Hungary and Poland if the League and ally Brothers of Italy (FdI) as expected win Sunday's Italian elections and introduce nationalist policies and threaten civil rights - though an EC spokesman said his boss had not meddled in Italian elections and only referred to procedures against the other two countries.
The EC on several occasions has censured Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and Poland's ruling Law and Justice party for rule-of-law and rights issues, levying sanctions against them unless they came fully back into line with the EU's democratic values.
The League and Fdi last week abstained in a European Parliament vote saying that Hungary under Orban was no longer a fully functioning democracy, but an autocracy.
Orban is a key ally of the two Italian parties while Law and Justice sits in the EP conservative caucus chaired by FdI leader Giorgia Meloni, along with Spain's far right Vox party.
Meloni, who is poised to become Italy's first woman premier and the most rightwing since the Second World War, has often praised the policies of Orban and her Polish allies.
Von der Leyen said Thursday that if the general election ushers in an autocratic, nationalist and Euroskeptic shift then "we have the instruments, as in the cases of Poland and Hungary." However, she added that "we are ready to work with any democratic government that is disposed to work with us".
Salvini branded her statement as squalid and arrogant meddling in Italian domestic politics.
Announcing the censure motion against von der Leyen Friday, Salvini said "it is a squalid threat, an invasion of the field that was not requested." He said "the lady represents all Europeans, her salary is paid by all of us, and it was a disgusting and arrogant threat.
"The League's EP group will file a motion of censure".
Salvini added: "On Sunday Italians are voting, not Brussels bureaucrats, and if I were the president of the EU Commission I would be (more) worried about energy bills".
EC spokesman Eric Mamer on Friday denied Salvini's charge of interfering in the Italian elections saying "I think it is absolutely clear that President von der Leyen did not intervene in the Italian elections and referred to ongoing procedures in other countries".
Meloni has assured Italy's international partners that under hew lead Italy will cleave to EU and NATO positions and will continue to back Ukraine in its defence against the Russian invasion.
But she has also voiced Euroskeptic views as well as railing against immigrants and alleged gay and woke lobbies, and promising to give women an alternative to abortion.
The 45-year-old plain-speaking working class Roman unmarried mother has stressed her identity as a Christian mother and is campaigning under the slogan God, family and fatherland.
She has also endorsed the 'great replacement' theory positing the substitution of white nationals by Muslim immigrants.
Though her party has post-Fascist roots she has stressed that it shares values and policies with Britain's Tories and US Republicans.
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