After Sweden, the extreme right scores a new victory in Europe, as in Italy – for the first time since the end of the Second World War – a post-fascist party is on the verge of power.
“We will govern for all Italians”: the head of the Italian far right Georgia Meloniwho wants to become the next prime minister after her party won Italy’s early parliamentary elections on Sunday, tried to calm concerns at home and abroad.
After Sweden, the extreme right scores a new victory in Europe, as in Italy -for the first time since the end of World War II- a post-fascist party is on the verge of power.
Remaining in opposition, against all successive governments after the 2018 parliamentary elections, the Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) party established itself as the main alternative and saw its percentage take off from 4 .3% four years ago to almost a quarter of the votes today (about 26%), or, in other words, it is turning into the first party of the peninsula’s parliament.
“The Italians they sent a clear message in favor of a right-wing government led by the Sisters of Italy,” Meloni said, confirming her ambition to become the next prime minister.
“We will rule for all” Italians, he promised. “We will do it with the aim of uniting the people, promoting what unites them rather than what divides them,” she added in her brief statement calling for “unity” and appeasement, acknowledging that the election campaign was “violent and aggressive.” He assured that “we will not betray your trust”.
The alliance he formed with the other Italian far-right party, the League by Matteo Salvini, and with Forza Italia (FI), the right-wing faction of Silvio Berlusconi, gathers about 43% of the votes and is expected to secure an absolute majority of seats, both in the House and in the Senate.
The faction founded at the end of 2012 by Giorgia Meloni with fellow Berlusconi dissidents overcame Enrico Letta’s Democratic Party (PD), which failed to block the path of the extreme right and falls below the barrier of 20% of the vote, against the background of the comparatively low participation of the electorate in the process (64.07%, from 73.86% in 2018).
PD vice-president Deborah Seraciani acknowledged the “victory of the right under Georgia Meloni”, speaking of a “night of sadness for the country”.
Vox
The political earthquake in Italy comes two weeks after the one in Sweden, where a conservative alliance including the Sweden Democrats (SD), a party that emerged from the neo-Nazi movement, scored an electoral victory, becoming the largest right-wing party in the Nordic country. SD and FdI belong to the same political family in the European Parliament.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, making an intervention that was received in Rome (with displeasure) as a warning, recalled a few days ago that the EU has “tools” to punish states that violate the rule of law and common values.
“The Italians delivered a lesson in humility to the European Union which, in the voice of Mrs. von der Leyen, tried to dictate to them what they would vote for,” commented French MEP Jordan Bardela, of Marine Le Pen’s National Alarm (RN). “No threat of any kind can stop democracy,” he added, arguing that Europeans are “taking their destiny into their own hands.”
A black sheep in Brussels, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, like his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki, sent his “congratulations” to Mrs Meloni.
Through his political adviser and MP Balas Orban, he added: “in these difficult times, we need more than ever friends who have a common vision and a common approach to the challenges in Europe.”
Georgia Meloni “showed the way” to a “proud”, “free” Europe, made up of “sovereign states”, the leader of the Spanish far-right party Vox, Santiago Avascal, celebrated for his part.
The “Great Unknown”
The Brothers of Italy owe their success to the unfulfilled promises of their opponents, the wind of rejection of the political order blowing across the peninsula and the charisma of their leader.
The 45-year-old Roma, who in her youth declared herself an admirer of Benito Mussolini, managed to demonize herself and her party’s image as well as capitalize on the fears and anger of millions of Italians in the face of exploding prices and unemployment, the threat of recession and the inefficiencies of public services.
The next Italian government will be asked to deal with the crisis caused by skyrocketing inflation, while Italy has a public debt that reaches 150% of its GDP.
In the country where government instability is a chronic phenomenon, pollsters are already giving a short life expectancy to the alliance won yesterday, a marriage of convenience between three leaders with competing ambitions.
For Meloni, “the challenge will be to transform her electoral success into leading a government that can last,” that “is the great unknown” of Italy’s new political equation, according to Lorenzo De Sio, professor of political science at Luiss University of Rome.
Meloni, without any government experience beyond her short stint at the Ministry of Youth (2008-2011), will have her hands full trying to handle her allies, much more experienced than her. Silvio Berlusconi has repeatedly been Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister.
On the Ukraine file, the EU and other allies of NATO member Italy will put the distribution of portfolios between the three parties under the microscope. While Meloni is a staunch supporter of the Atlantic alliance and is in favor of the sanctions imposed on Russia, Mr Salvini is against it.
RES-EMP
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
