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After Giorgia Meloni’s Euroskeptic populist party easily won Monday’s general elections, Italy took a sharp turn to the right, setting the former Mussolini supporter up to become the first woman to lead the nation. In Sunday’s election, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, is predicted to garner about 26% of the vote, while her larger coalition won a clear majority in parliament. They will now start forming the most right-wing government since World War II with the help of former premier Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini’s far-right League, a process that is likely to take weeks.
Just weeks after the far-right did well in Sweden’s elections, Meloni’s victory represents a sea change for the EU and Italy, a founding member of the EU and the third-largest economy in the eurozone.
Meloni stressed unity in her first speech by promising to rule “for all Italians.”
The 45-year-old, whose party has never been in power, faces enormous obstacles in the form of rising inflation, an impending energy crisis, and the conflict in Ukraine.
“Proud, liberated Europe”
From Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, to Vox, a far-right party in Spain, congratulations poured in from Meloni’s allies in the European nationalist movement.
However, Jose Manuel Albares, the Spanish minister of foreign affairs, issued a warning: “Populist movements always grow, but it always ends in the same way — in catastrophe.”
Despite their continued opposition to Italy leaving the eurozone, Meloni and Salvini have a strong anti-European stance.
Rome needs to assert its interests more, according to the head of the Brothers of Italy, and his organisation has policies that could challenge Brussels on issues ranging from mass migration to public spending regulations.
Her coalition also wants to renegotiate Italy’s share of the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund, contending that the nearly 200 billion euros ($193 billion) it anticipates receiving should take the energy crisis into account.
However, the funds are contingent on a package of reforms that outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi has only recently started, and analysts claim she has little leeway.
Meloni’s campaign was based on the tenets of “God, country, and family,” which raised concerns about a possible erosion of rights in the nation with a Catholic majority.
