Exactly one year ago, under the worried eyes of her European partners, for the first time, a far-right leader took power in Italy. A year later, little change in the end.
Giorgia Meloni celebrates her first birthday as Prime Minister of Italy this weekend. In one year in power, she went from the status of feared leader of a far-right party to the more consensual “friend” of Joe Biden, the American Democratic President. “International: better than expected. Immigration: much worse than expected. Economy: more or less what I expected”summarizes Beppe Severgnini, editorialist at Corriere della Sera, after a year in power for Giorgia Meloni.
International policy: alignment with Italy’s traditional allies
Despite her Euroscepticism, the 46-year-old leader sought to have a constructive attitude with the European Union and its partners. On the two main international issues of the moment, the war in Ukraine and that between Israel and Hamas, Rome has aligned itself with its Western partners. She also provided unfailing support to kyiv against Moscow, which earned her the support of Washington. “We became friends”, the American president told him in the Oval Office. The observation, after a year, is therefore that of normalization.
Domestic policy: parliament bypassed
The post-fascist leader has not pushed Italy into another regime, even if she governs through decree-laws and the Italian parliament has no say. Defender of the traditional family model, she banned local authorities from registering the children of gay and lesbian couples, who in Italy are not allowed to adopt or use surrogate mothers. On marriage, she was more flexible, even announcing on Friday October 20 her separation from the father of her seven-year-old daughter.
Immigration: the broken promise of “closed ports”
On the subject of immigration, it is certain that Giorgia Meloni has not kept her promises. She recognized it herself at the end of September on Rai. “The results are not what we hoped for, she admitted. This subject deserves a new commitment.” The campaign last year was on the theme of ports closed to migrants. However, even if the rules have been tightened, 2023 will be a year of mass arrivals. 140,000 people have arrived in Italy since January 1.
But his electorate clearly does not blame him. In one year, voting intentions for his Fratelli d’Italia party have not changed, at around 30%. “She has a good popularity because she speaks like everyone else, explains Susanna Turco, biographer of Giorgia Meloni and political editor of the weekly Espresso. Everyone can identify with her. But if I have to judge his action in government, I don’t find much.”
Economy: a budget without revolution
Giorgia Meloni has just presented the 2024 budget and it does not include any structural measures. Tax cuts and one-off measures for the middle and working classes are planned, but this will further increase the Italian debt. The verdict from the financial rating agencies will come in the coming weeks. Standard and Poor’s has just issued its own. Italy remains rated triple B. If the rating does not change, it is mediocre.