(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 18 - As expected Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said his Forza Italia (FI) party will vote for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to get a second term, after she presented her policies in the EU parliament on Thursday, while fellow Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini's League said it will vote against.
    It remains uncertain what the MEPs from Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party will do.
    FdI MEP Nicola Procaccini said the Conservative ECR group FdI belongs to and which Meloni chairs will give the national delegations within it the freedom to choose how to vote.
    The premier was furious that the ECR was left out of the negotiations for the EU top jobs.
    But there is speculation Meloni may get her MEPs to vote for von der Leyen and give 'external' support to the new EU executive if she gets policy concessions and Italy is given a Commissioner with an influential post.
    Von der Leven had a meeting with ECR representatives on Wednesday at which a "structural collaboration" between the group and the incoming executive was ruled out.
    The Commission chief and the Italian premier spoke on the telephone late on Wednesday, sources said. (ANSA).