ROME, ITALY
In autumn 2022, the German newspaper Stern invited an Italian politician Giorgia Melonia Europe’s most dangerous woman.
Meloni was known, for example, for his EU-critical speeches, his warm relations with the Prime Minister of Hungary to Viktor Orbán and to Spain’s far-right Vox party.
Meloni became the Prime Minister of Italy in October 2022.
Fear arose in Europe about what line Melon’s government would take on the war in Ukraine. Meloni’s government also includes the parties La Lega and Forza Italia, and their leaders Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi had previously publicly defended Russia.
However, Melon has not become a troublemaker breaking up European unity. On the contrary, criticism of the EU has subsided and he has taken a constructive approach to cooperation with the West, says the assistant professor of political studies at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia Cecilia Sottilotta.
– Meloni’s first year has been a year of stabilization. He has given a different image of himself than what many expected based on his previous behavior.
Board responsibility leads in a more moderate direction
Before Meloni became prime minister, the Italian Brothers party was in the opposition for ten years.
– A politician has to adapt in government responsibility, says Sottilotta.
On the other hand, according to him, it is important to distinguish between what Meloni might want to do and what the circumstances allow.
In foreign policy, Meloni has only a little room to maneuver. This is because Italy needs almost 200 billion euros in loans and subsidies from the EU recovery fund to reform, for example, public administration, the labor market and the legal system.
Meloni’s board has had already having trouble getting the money spent in time. Last March, Brussels delayed the 19 billion payment tranche because it wanted more time to assess whether Italy meets the requirements for the use of the money.
A leader with a quarrelsome attitude towards the European Union could now be disastrous for Italy.
Meloni’s government is committed to the EU’s line also in issues related to Ukraine. Immediately after the election, Meloni sent to the President of Ukraine to Volodymyr Zelenskyi symbolic A Twitter messagein which he promised that the president could count on Italy’s support.
Supporting Ukraine is a politically difficult issue for Melon. Opinion polls show that more Italians oppose than support Arms aid to Ukraine.
A big role in EU immigration policy
Meloni has wanted to convince the West of his loyalty and nurtured good conversational relations with the countries’ leaders. At the same time, he has taken on a growing role in the EU’s tightening immigration policy.
President of the EU Commission Ursula von der LeyenMeloni and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte traveled in July to tie the knot with the Tunisian president Kais Saiedin with the disputed contract. The EU promised to pay Tunisia that the country starts curbing the arrival of migrants across the Mediterranean.
It also benefits Italy. This year, twice as many migrants and asylum seekers have come across the sea to Italy than last year. A large number of them leave for Europe by boat from the Tunisian coast.
Last week, von der Leyen and Meloni visited the island of Lampedusa, which is the focal point of the Mediterranean migrant crisis. They discussed ways to respond to the deepening crisis.
Meloni’s loyalty to the West is spoken of by the fact that Meloni’s government is hinted at the possibility of breaking away Regarding the cooperation agreements concluded with China in 2019. Italy then became the first G7 country to support China’s One Road, One Belt project. This caused outrage in the United States and the EU.
Associate professor Sottilotta estimates that Meloni is trying to profile himself as a conservative right-wing leader of the new era, from whom other European leaders could take a model.
– For example, France Marine Le Pen from the line, he has taken a step further. It is important for him to detach himself far enough from the far-right label.
Not too far though. Melon still has members in his party who fascist sympathies have received attention.
Last fall, the Italian media highlighted the one published in 2018 video interviewwhere the speaker of the Senate and a close ally of Meloni Ignazio La Russa introduced the one at home, the fascist dictator of Italy Benito Mussolini performing statue.
Even on the anniversary of Italy’s liberation from fascism in April, many would have expected Melon to be more direct statement of anti-fascism on behalf of.
Among foreign right-wing leaders, Meloni has maintained close relations with, for example, the leader of the Spanish far-right party Vox to Santiago Abascal and Hungary’s Orbán.
– The time of patriots has come. In Italy, Finland, Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic we have shown that we can get into power, he said at a Vox supporter event in July before the Spanish parliamentary elections.
The support of the Italian brothers has increased
In his home country, Meloni is experiencing an upswing. The support of the Italian brothers drops by 30 percent, which is higher than ever before.
– The left is weak and there are no right-wing allies to challenge him, says Sottilotta.
Melon has also received votes from the Forza Italia party of Berlusconi, who died in the summer.
The graphic below shows how the support of Italy’s main parties has developed from the results of last September’s parliamentary elections to the opinion poll conducted in September of the current year.
In Italy, Meloni’s government practices conservative right-wing politics. It is for example cut social benefitstoughened penalties and tightened the asylum policy.
At the center of Meloni’s politics is defense of traditional family values. He raises child allowances and speaks loudly in favor of a higher birth rate. Italy is threatened by a population crisis: the population is aging rapidly and the number of children born last year was the lowest in Matali’s measurement history, i.e. since 1861.
– Immigration is not the answer to the population crisis, Meloni said earlier in September when he met Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán.
Although Meloni communicates immigration in this way, his government has decided to increase labor-based immigration in Italy considerably in the coming years.
Meloni also opposes, for example, the adoption right of gay couples.
The Italian parliament is considering a legal initiative engineered by Italian brothers to criminalize surrogacy abroad. Surrogacy is illegal in Italy, and many rainbow couples have resorted to surrogacy abroad to have children.
Human rights activists and Meloni’s political opponents have widely demonstrated against the government’s policies.
– Meloni’s issuing has become more institutional after he came to power. But it’s about communication, the values have been preserved, sums up assistant professor Sottilotta.