Giorgia Meloni is officially, since this Sunday morning, the first woman to lead a government in Italy. Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi passed the torch to the post-fascist, exactly a century after Mussolini, of whom Ms. Meloni was an admirer, came to power.
The transfer of power took place under the ornate Chigi Palace, the seat of government a stone’s throw from parliament. Upon her arrival on the red carpet set up for the occasion, Ms. Meloni reviewed the guard of honor to the sound of the brass band. Moved, she was greeted at the top of the stairs by her predecessor, who wished her “welcome” and then received her for a private conversation lasting more than an hour.
Many challenges
Aged 45, Giorgia Meloni, will be at the head of the most right-wing government in the country since the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946. This ceremony was to be followed by the first Council of Ministers, devoted essentially to making contact between the new ministers and administrative tasks.
It was then that serious things began for the Prime Minister, faced with many challenges, mainly economic, starting with the energy crisis, inflation and the debt, whose ratio is the highest in the euro zone after the Greece.
Macron as the first guest?
French President Emmanuel Macron, who travels to Rome on Sunday where he will see Pope Francis and deliver a speech on peace, could be the first foreign head of state to meet his Italian counterpart, although no talks are scheduled for this stage.
On Saturday, the European Union, reluctant to face the coming to power of the far right, said it was ready to “cooperate” with the Meloni government, a welcome marked by the congratulations of its three major institutions: Ursula von der Leyen for the European Commission, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. Giorgia Meloni thanked European leaders, saying she was “ready and eager to work together”.