After the election in Italy: South Tyrol’s suspicions about Meloni

In Rome, the winner of the election, Meloni, is preparing to take office as prime minister. Many South Tyroleans see this with concern: They fear that Meloni could try to restrict their right to autonomy.

In South Tyrol, old worries are suddenly back: the Schützenbund and Heimatbund take to the streets in downtown Bolzano. The men and women from the German-speaking ethnic group want to commemorate the so-called March on Bozen in 1922: Fascist thugs stormed a school in order to violently enforce the Italianization of South Tyrol.

Jorg Seisselberg
ARD studio Rome

Christoph Schmidt from the German National Riflemen in Bozen observes with unease that 100 years later Giorgia Meloni with her right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia is preparing to take over the government in Rome: He and the riflemen would look at it “with eagle eyes”. , “in which direction the new Italian politics will go,” he says. The aim of the shooters is to “represent and defend our independence, our autonomy and our German and Ladin people of South Tyrol”.

“Blooming tree” of autonomy

Sometimes violent clashes between the German and Italian speaking ethnic groups shaped South Tyrol not only during the Fascist era. In the past few decades, South Tyrol has become a successful model for many different cultures to live together.

“South Tyrol’s autonomy has deep roots,” says Monica Rosini, professor of autonomy law at the University of Bozen. Unfortunately, this is also characterized by violence and pain. But now, says Rosini, autonomy is “a flowering tree that has turned this area into an economically rich area”.

South Tyrol has the highest gross national product and thus the greatest economic power in Italy, at the same time the lowest unemployment rate. Among other things, the province benefits from its autonomy status, which allows it to keep a large part of its tax revenue and does not have to give it to Rome.

Meloni already stormed in 2015

Meloni has made it clear several times in the past that this autonomy status is a thorn in her side – including when the South Tyrolean authorities refused in 2015 to flag public buildings to mark the 100th anniversary of the war against Austria-Hungary.

At that time, Meloni questioned the tax benefits for South Tyrol. “I think you have to tell these people: If they feel Austrian, then they should go live in Austria,” she stormed. “And if the Italian flag isn’t right for you, then the billions of euros that the Italian state is transferring for the autonomy of South Tyrol aren’t right either.”

Similar world view, but fronts

Eva Klotz from the South Tyrolean Freedom Party, which advocates South Tyrol’s separation from Italy, has not forgotten this statement by Melonis. Together with representatives of the right-wing extremist FPÖ from Austria, Klotz warns against Meloni in an open letter and calls her, among other things, a “South Tyrol hater” and a “fascist wolf in sheep’s clothing”. According to Klotz, their request to emigrate to Austria “comes very close to a kind of expulsion policy.”

After years of relatively harmonious coexistence and the economic boom in South Tyrol, the fronts threaten to harden again. Nationalisms on both sides are currently clashing, says Hannes Obermair from the Eurac Research research institute: “Meloni is pleading for ‘dio, patria, famiglia’, i.e. God, nation, family. The protectors for God, emperor and fatherland”.

Both, according to Obermair, have “basically a similarly conservative, reactionary world view” – one on the Italian side, the other on the German-speaking side.

“protected by international law”

The South Tyrolean People’s Party (SVP), which has been in power in Bolzano for decades, doesn’t want any new barricades in people’s minds. The German-speaking collection movement unites different political currents under one roof. Julia Unterberger from the left wing of the SVP is optimistic that Meloni will not shake South Tyrol’s autonomy status.

Even if she restricts: “Meloni will certainly not help us to further develop this autonomy”. On the other hand, Unterberger doesn’t believe “that she’ll try to take God knows something from us” – which Meloni wouldn’t be able to do either, emphasizes the SVP senator, “because our autonomy is protected by international law” and is therefore not just an internal Italian matter.

The youth of the South Tyrolean People’s Party is definitely in favor of clear demarcation: on Monday they called on the SVP representatives to vote in parliament against a government led by Meloni in any case.