Roman Revolution: Italy Takes Right Turn With Giorgia Meloni

The victory in parliamentary elections Sunday by Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist party, Fratelli d’Italia, marks a decisive tilt to the right for Europe’s third largest economy and opens a path for the 45-year-old firebrand to become Italy’s first female prime minister.“Italians have sent a clear message in favor of a right-wing government led by the Brothers of Italy,” Ms. Meloni said at Rome. The euroskeptic politician, who is openly critical of Brussels bureaucracy, added that “if we are called to govern this nation, we will do it for everyone, we will do it for all Italians, and we will do it with the aim of uniting the people.”Projections based on votes from some two-thirds of the polling stations in Sunday’s balloting suggest that Brothers of Italy would win more than 25 percent of the vote, AP reported Monday. Ms. Meloni’s alliance and future coalition partners, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s Northern League, garnered a combined projected 16.6 percent of the ballots.That would give Italy’s newly energized center-right more than 40 percent of the total votes and place it decisively ahead of the center-left Democratic Party of Enrico Letta, which according to projections will take less than 20 percent of the votes. Early on Monday, the party admitted its defeat but proclaimed that it would become the official opposition.Ms. Meloni’s victory, while not unanticipated given her personal charisma, strong showing in the polls, and Italy’s fractured left-wing parties, came as a political earthquake in Europe. The Continent’s right-wing parties were quick to offer their congratulations.The acting president of France’s far-right National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said that Italian voters delivered a “lesson in humility” to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Last week, speaking in America, Ms. Von der Leyen hinted that Brussels could intervene if Italian electoral procedures went awry, triggering cries of interference and outrage across party lines in Italy. The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, congratulated Ms. Meloni directly via Twitter. The top political advisor to the populist Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, Balas Orbán, (no apparent relation), congratulated the leaders of the Italian far-right alliance and said via Twitter that “in these difficult times, we need friends more than ever who have a common vision and a common approach to the challenges in Europe.”The leader of Germany’s anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, Beatrix von Storch, wrote on Twitter, “We celebrate together with Italy,” adding “Sweden in the north, Italy in the south — the governments of the left belong to yesterday.” Following a vote earlier this month, the far right Sweden Democrats led by Jimmie Akesson now have the second-highest number of seats in the Swedish parliament. Italy’s far-right-right alliance is now on its way to securing an absolute majority of seats in both the Chamber of Deputies (the House) and the Senate, in a somewhat byzantine process that could yet take several weeks, but possibly less. In 2008, for example, former premier Silvio Berlusconi needed just 24 days to assume office. What is certain is that new members of the Senate and the House are required by the Italian constitution to meet within 20 days of the election, in other words by October 15 at the latest.At any rate, the government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief who is seen as competent but lackluster and whose governing coalition collapsed two months ago, will stay on in a caretaker role until there is a formal transfer of power. Even after that happens, Ms. Meloni will have some daunting tasks ahead of her, including keeping her own coalition in order. There are bound to be squabbles over pressing matters such as Italy’s role in the European Union — though anything like calls for an Italian version of Brexit is still far beyond the horizon — and Italy’s commitment to Ukraine. Ms. Meloni has throughout her campaign been a staunch advocate of providing support to Ukraine; her alliance partners, sometimes markedly less so. Mr. Salvini in particular has demonstrated affinities for Russian president Vladimir Putin and advocated for scrapping sanctions against Moscow, which he claims have had the boomerang effect of hurting the pocketbooks of Italians. Mr. Berlusconi raised eyebrows when in remarks given to Italian television on Friday he appeared to apologize for Mr. Putin. “He was pushed by the Russian population, by his party and by his ministers to invent this ‘special operation’,” Mr. Berlusconi said, “in which Russian troops were to enter Kyiv within a week and replace Zelensky with a government of decent people.”Mr. Berlusconi turns 86 this week and is seen today more as an enduring kingmaker in Italian politics than active politician. That may come as some relief to Ms. Meloni as she tries to unify Italians buffeted by economic headwinds and social issues without alienating the European partners she still needs at Brussels. For the time being, her party’s solid showing at the polls and colorful personality will fuel her momentum.Italians seem to be taking her humor in stride, too. As voters headed to the polls on Sunday, Ms. Meloni posted a short video on social media platform TikTok holding two melons and winking for the camera: meloni is the Italian word for melons. That probably would not have flown in America, but Italian newspapers noted it with winks of their own. Time will tell how long the honeymoon lasts.

Roman Revolution: Italy Takes Right Turn With Giorgia Meloni

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