How does the impossible become possible?

In forging the 2026 government budget, Italy’s economy minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, emulated Marcus Aurelius: “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.” 

The results were more than noteworthy.

Last week’s passage by Italy’s senate of a vote of confidence for the 2026 budget, Reuters reports, keeps the country “on track to secure parliament’s final approval before the end of the year.”

According to ANSA, Signor Giorgetti believes Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government seized the day, achieving what “seemed impossible.”

After much wrangling, horse-trading, and political gamesmanship, Signora Meloni’s center-right administration crafted a budget bill that combines fiscal prudence with incentives for economic growth.

“The budget aims to lower next year’s fiscal deficit to 2.8 percent of gross domestic product from a targeted 3 percent in 2025,” reported Reuters, “paving the way for Italy’s exit from an EU excessive deficit procedure, in 2026, while cutting taxes for low and medium income brackets.”

Cutting Italy’s second tier of personal income tax (IRPEF) from 35 percent to 33 percent — for earnings between 28,000 and 50,000 euros —  represents a key component of the budget package.

Though the process roiled the waters even among members of the governing coalition, Signora Meloni’s iron-clad free-market orientation never faltered.

Indeed, Signor Giorgetti explained that “this truly positive outcome demonstrates once again how the entire government supports the approach we started three years ago.”

And that approach is what Signora Meloni hailed recently in accepting New Direction’s — a European Conservatives and Reformists think tank — Margaret Thatcher Award.

The Italian premier averred that Conservatives are fighting in a field “where it’s not easy to fight” because “we don’t do what we do because it’s easy or difficult,” but “because it’s right or it’s not. And we know we’re on the right side of history.”

The Financial Times acknowledged the change in the Magic Boot’s fiscal trajectory recently, noting that “investors have warmed to Prime Minister Meloni, whose right-wing government has displayed a strong commitment to deficit reduction, despite pressures from workers wrestling with a cost-of-living squeeze.”

Writing in the selfsame Financial Times back in November, the dean of SDA Bocconi School of Management, Stefano Caselli,  stated that”the 10-year Italian yields have fallen below French ones. This is not just about a shift in views over the improving fiscal position of Italy — it is a political one.”

The Seed of Aeneas is assuming its rightful place in the global pantheon of nations at an inflection point in history.

As Mr. Caselli asserts, “Stability and discipline have unlocked the country’s deep industrial strengths.”

In addition to its top-tier universities and deep intellectual capital, “Italy remains the world’s eighth-largest economy and the EU’s third by GDP. It is Europe’s second manufacturing powerhouse, exporting €612bn of goods in 2024 with a trade surplus of €46bn.”

Signora Meloni’s stewardship of the Magic Boot makes Rome a pivotal decision-maker in the Continent’s future. However, unlike some other European nations, Signora Meloni’s Italy has not succumbed to “civilizational erasure.”

From championing faith and public Nativity Crèches to espousing national greatness, Premier Meloni seeks to reanimate, reinforce and promote Western values.

And Rome’s influence is appreciated and welcomed by allies across the planet.

The Israeli ambassador, Jonathan Peled, has stated that “Italy is highly respected” by the Jewish State for “its many missions to stabilize and maintain peace in the Middle East.”

Recently, Mr. Peled lauded Italian prosecutors’ arrest of nine people in Genoa on suspicion of financing the terrorist group Hamas through alleged Palestinian charities based in Italy.

Following the government’s approval of military aid to Ukraine in 2026, General Luciano Portolano, chief of the Defense General Staff, outlined the challenges facing Italy and Europe in coordinating “the sustainability of the conventional weapons, the readiness of the forces and technological evolution.”

After achieving the impossible in 2025, Signora Meloni waxed satirical to her staff at Palazzo Chigi:

“The past year has been tough for all of us, but don’t worry because next year will be even worse. So I advise you to rest properly during these holidays because we have to continue to give responses to this extraordinary nation.”