Right-wing extremists in Italy: who is Giorgia Meloni?

Ultra-conservative views, no clear no to fascism: If Italy votes in the fall, the right-wing extremist Meloni could become the new prime minister. What does the 45-year-old want?

She wants to take over the government in Rome. Giorgia Meloni has been in no doubt about that for months. Already after the national regional elections in the spring, when her party Brothers of Italy was one of the winners, Meloni said: “We are absolutely ready to govern. If the Italians give us the opportunity, then we guarantee that we will also take on this responsibility.”

A message that the 45-year-old has been spreading even more confidently since this week, after Mario Draghi’s fall: “We are ready. I am ready. The brothers of Italy are ready. And it seems to me that the center-right is also quite ready today is.” Ready to lead Italy after new elections on September 25th.

The current polls feed the self-confidence of the Italian right and especially Giorgia Melonis. The Italian Brothers are currently the strongest party with 23 percent, a right-wing alliance together with Matteo Salvini’s Lega and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia would get 45 percent.

Best prospects to become Draghi’s successor

Meloni has excellent prospects of becoming Draghi’s successor, says politics professor Lorenzo Castellani from Rome University LUISS: “The centre-right coalition is in the lead and has a chance of winning the election.” If the centre-right wins an absolute majority, Castellani believes that “as the leader of what is probably the strongest party, Giorgia Meloni could become the next prime minister”.

A woman who started her political career in a neo-fascist youth organization. And who is currently leading a party whose coat of arms shows the green, white and red flame, which in the symbolism of the Italian right stands for the eternal flame on Mussolini’s grave.

When Meloni is asked in television debates to distance herself from fascism, she squirms: “I have nothing in my life to apologize for.” But, says Meloni, in two out of three TV discussions she should talk about “history and not current politics. I don’t think that’s right.”

No distance to Mussolini

Mussolini, says Meloni, is a “complex personality who has to be seen in the historical context”. The so-called “Roman salute” can be seen again and again at party events of the Brothers of Italy, comparable to the Hitler salute in Germany. The Meloni party nominated a granddaughter of Mussolini in the city council elections in Rome, and a great-grandson of Mussolini in the European elections.

Meloni reacts irritably when asked about these topics. The eloquent and energetic Roman describes herself as a conservative and proudly points out that she is the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformers party at European level. In addition to the Polish PiS party, the right-wing extremist Sweden Democrats and the Spanish Vox, this also includes the British Conservatives.

Politics professor Castellani says: What Melonis politics as Italy’s prime minister could look like is still unclear on important points: “We know very little about her economic and financial policy ideas. And about what relationship Italy should have with the European Union.”

ultra-conservative views

In other policy areas, on the other hand, Meloni has clear ideas. As she made clear last month during an election campaign appearance by the Spanish Vox party in Andalusia.

The end of Meloni’s speech, loudly spoken, was a kind of summary of her political convictions: “Yes to the natural family – no to the LGBT lobby. Yes to the culture of life, no to abortions. Yes to Christian principles, no to Islamist violence. Yes to secure borders, no to mass immigration. Yes to our fellow citizens, no to the international financial world. Yes to the independence of the peoples, no to the bureaucrats in Brussels.”

Those are the tones that the European partners would have to adjust to with a Prime Minister Meloni. At least on one point, however, Meloni is in line with the EU: she is on Kiev’s side in the Ukraine war, and she condemns what she says is a “Russian war of aggression.”