Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is pursuing a reassuring foreign policy allied to the West, while culture wars at home keep her far-right credentials intact, Associated Press reported.
Meloni has become the most influential far-right leader in Europe, a position emphasised in a fiery speech in May at a Vox rally in Spain attended by French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Republicans who support Trump.
Her pro-Ukrainian and Israeli policies have proved reassuring to centrist US and European allies as Italy prepares to host US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders in late June.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party is projected to grow from six seats to at least 20 seats when Italians vote on 8-9 June, with Meloni personalising the polls by asking voters to spell her name “Georgia” and to check the party symbol.
The European elections on 6-9 June could begin to shift Meloni’s balance sheet.
“I think there are two Melonis, and the Meloni that is getting more attention is the pragmatic, pro-Ukrainian Meloni. There is another Meloni, back in Italy, where she is pursuing a clear right-wing agenda on a variety of issues from migration to social-cultural values. The European elections could be a bit of a moment of truth. She has never been forced to take a clear ideological stand,” according to Wolfango Piccoli of the London-based Teneo consultancy.
In addition, by campaigning on an anti-European platform, Meloni has adjusted her rhetoric as Europe invests more than 210 billion euros ($228 billion) in Italy in pandemic recovery funds. In addition, she has a potential political ally in the person of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who would not rule out including Meloni’s party in a grand coalition if necessary.
Despite her rising popularity, Italian opposition leaders, activists and journalists have sounded the alarm over the proliferation of far-right policies that restrict LGBTQ+ and women’s rights while creating what some see as an atmosphere of xenophobia and intimidation.
Analysts say Meloni’s pragmatic approach calls into question the extent of her personal belief in a far-right social and cultural programme. Nevertheless, during her term, Meloni delegated much of the cultural social policy issues to her ministers, which gave her a degree of separation on many thorny issues.
Such a thorny issue has been migration, as she defends her so-called Mattei plan to fund projects in African countries along migrant routes in exchange for better control, while pushing forward plans to open refugee reception centres in Albania, seeking consensus from von der Leyen, a development she praised during the election campaign.
In addition, Meloni’s government has banned city governments from legally registering non-biological parents to same-sex couples, effectively restricting their parental rights, and has also made access to abortion more difficult, allowing anti-abortion activists to visit abortion clinics, which activists say creates an intimidating atmosphere. Her government has opposed gender theory and is pushing through parliament a law banning surrogacy.
Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano has shamelessly removed foreigners and left-wing appointees from the management of landmark museums, institutions and opera houses, demonstrating a desire to steer the cultural debate in a way not seen in previous ideological shifts between left and right.
The media watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders has downgraded Italy five notches in its annual press freedom index, placing it in the “problematic” category alongside Poland and Hungary. In a recent episode, journalists from state television RAI accused the new government of censoring a planned Liberation Day monologue condemning fascism.
Political analyst Roberto D’Alimonte says the growing popularity of the Brothers of Italy is attracting fickle voters. He said of Rome’s LUISS university: “She is a shrewd politician. If she wins the next election, we might see a Meloni who tries to change that, becoming more conservative even on cultural matters, rather than far-right.”
