One only has to imagine for a moment that this is Olaf Scholz: The German chancellor would spend three minutes putting his latest government plans in well-chosen words while he follows the camera through the rooms of the chancellery in the best Netflix manner. At the end of the video, he would have arrived in the cabinet room to take a seat among the ministers already waiting there with a final greeting to the audience.
Difficult to imagine? Even in politically diversified Italy, even veteran correspondents recall nothing comparable. But Giorgia Meloni is always up for a new side of political communication. So she, who has been in power for a good six months at the head of a three-party constellation, walks through her official residence, the Palazzo Chigi opposite the Marc Aurel Column in the middle of Rome, always in close contact with the video camera. Didactically varying the pitch of her voice, supporting her hands according to all the rules of rhetorical art, she walks through suites of rooms with historical furniture, past the government desk to a last, still locked door.
The government allows more precarious jobs
Here is her explanation of the measures that are about to be decided: “Get to work now,” says Giorgia Meloni and opens the door to the Council of Ministers. And in fact, the whole government is sitting there, all the heads of department, and they are waiting resignedly without looking up, only Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani gives her a slightly embarrassed smile – or is he smiling with amusement? The Prime Minister, who expressly wants to be addressed as Prime Minister, i.e. in the male form, resolutely goes to her seat, picks up the bell, smiles mischievously back at the camera, and off we go.
The coalition of the three right-wing parties was chosen, among other things, because they promised business-friendly measures. She’s doing it now. This makes it easier for companies to close fixed-term employment contracts of one to two years. In the tourism industry, internships are also allowed again for older employees. Unemployed people who do not participate in government measures have certain social benefits cut. Lower incomes are to receive tax relief, for which the government is investing three billion euros, according to Meloni the “most important tax reduction in recent decades”, which could bring individuals up to 100 euros a month.
All of this should create jobs for more people, but of course it also increases the number of precarious jobs that are already common in Italy. The parties to the center and to the left of it therefore criticize the package as a patchwork in the wrong place and instead call for a comprehensive tax reform, among other things. But they are also struck by the way in which the measures were decided.
Meloni thinks little of taking the political opponent with him
The video was not the only highlight from Meloni. Another was the choice of date. The cabinet meeting, to which the head of government is so cinematic, took place on May 1 of all days. On “Labour Day” in Italy, too, the trade unions have the power of interpretation. They traditionally stage a massive, free open-air spectacle in front of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.
Maurizio Landini, secretary of the important trade union CGIL, called the decision to allow the cabinet to meet on May 1 “arrogant and insulting”. The government says smugly: “We are introducing measures for the labor market. The left goes to concerts.” Meloni and her people clearly think little of taking the political opponent with them. In Germany, Scholz or Merkel would have consulted extensively with the unions. In Italy there was only one casual meeting – the evening before the cabinet meeting.