European elections 2024: Sandro Gozi, an Italian on a French list

Pubbliè on La Croix, 3/6/2024

The Italian MEP and Secretary General of the European Democratic Party is once again a candidate on the French presidential majority list for the elections on 9 June. His aim: to represent European citizens, while positioning himself as a fervent supporter of Macronism.

His profile is not the most common in politics. Sandro Gozi is Italian, but his name appears on the French presidential majority list for the European elections on
European elections on 9 June. He is in sixth place among the 81 candidates, which puts him in a strong position to stand for election. Aged 56, he has already been a Member of the European Parliament since 2020 on the Renaissance list of the Renew Europe group (centre and liberals) and Secretary General of the European Democratic Party (PDE).

Founded in 2019, the Renew Europe (RE) group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Comprising a majority of French MEPs from Renaissance and their Romanian counterparts from the USR-Plus list (Union Sauvez la Roumanie and Party of Freedom, Unity and Solidarity), it was the third-largest political force in the European Parliament during the parliamentary term just ending, with 101 MEPs (over 14%).

100 billion for European defence

“If I had to bring a single measure to the European Parliament, it would be the
100 billion plan to develop defence equipment within the European Union”, argues Sandro Gozi. A measure to support Ukraine against Russia, which ‘responds most to the current emergency, and helps to build a powerful Europe’.

To bring this project to fruition, the man who entered politics at the age of 37 is ‘ determined to build a new central majority with the European People’s Party (EPP, editor’s note) and the Social Democrats to continue the transformation of Europe’. Sandro Gozi is categorical in his rejection of any alliance ‘with the far right, whether it be ECR, Giorgia Meloni’s group, or the Social Democrats ’.

Giorgia Meloni’s group, or the RN, Marine Le Pen’s party”.

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Sandro Gozi, a former Member of Parliament and formerly Secretary of State for European Affairs in Prime Minister Matteo Renzi‘s Italian government, still has one foot in his native country and the other in France. But why choose, when his aim is ‘to embody European citizenship’? All European citizens have the right to vote and to be elected at municipal and European level in the country in which they reside, even if they are not nationals of that country. The Italian has remained attached to France ever since he studied law at the Sorbonne in Paris as part of an Erasmus programme. Since then, he has ‘ spent a good part of(his) lifethere’ and continues to give lectures at Sciences Po Paris on the workings of the European Commission, alongside his political activities.

A transnational identity

His career path remains atypical, however. ‘I’m convinced that, when the elections become truly European, there will be more candidates with different citizenships on a list from the same country”, predicts the Italian in impeccable French. But this desire to represent ‘a transnational policy’has not been without its obstacles for the 50-year-old: ‘I’ve been called a traitor in Italy, as in France’.

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This former diplomat and European civil servant has lived in France for more than five years, which could enable him to acquire French nationality. But he has not yet taken that step: “My aim is to make people understand that it is possible to be involved in politics in a country of which you are not a national. I think the message about transnational identity is stronger.