Di Maio ready to return: he is in the running for the role of EU envoy for the Persian Gulf
A prestigious and very delicate role, he will have to deal in particular with the issue of energy and gas supply
The doors of politics could soon reopen for Luigi Di Maio . The former foreign minister, who initiated the split of the M5s and was punished by citizens in the last elections, is vying for an important post in the European Union.
The former pentastellato leader could become the EU special envoy for the Persian Gulf region . A prestigious and very delicate commitment, especially at this moment and in view of the key discussions on the subject of energy and gas supply . There is a four-way race with former European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, Cypriot Markos Kiprianou and a former Slovakian government official.
Mario Draghi in the last weeks of his government gave approval to the Di Maio hypothesis . However, it is up to the High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell to formulate the proposal, the same Borrell who nine years ago announced the decision to appoint "an EU special envoy for the Gulf region" and who at the last summit in attended by the former pentastellato leader praised his work.
Given that the choice belongs exclusively to Borrell, the question has not yet arrived on the table of the current Italian government. But on Monday, in the Council of European Foreign Ministers, Antonio Tajani will certainly address the issue. Di Maio as minister visited the Gulf countries a lot in an attempt to recover relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after the decision by the Conte government to stop the sale of Italian arms.
After the split and break with Conte, Di Maio founded Civic Commitment but was literally beaten by the voters in the last political elections. Defeated in the single-member constituency by the pentastellato Sergio Costa, he remained out of Parliament also because his party stopped at 0.6% , far from the threshold.
After the elections he left the leadership of Civic Commitment, deleted some social profiles and said goodbye to officials and employees of the Farnesina with a post on Instagram: "Today's foreign policy affects citizens' daily lives more and more and must be able to interpret the changes,” he wrote among other things.
(Unioneonline/L)
