New right-wing female PM appointed, with radical tax-cutting agenda – Sound familiar?

One woman out, one woman in… As Liz Truss exits, Giorgia Meloni enters the European stage

Montage © Facts4EU.Org

Italy’s new PM breaks with tradition by being female and by actually being elected

Yesterday in Rome Giorgia Meloni broke centuries of macho tradition to become Italy’s first female Prime Minister.

Following her triumph in leading her ‘Brothers of Italy’ party to victory in the Italian general election on 25 September 2022, Giorgia Meloni has been engaged in the tortuous task of negotiating with the leaders of smaller parties making up her coalition. At the end of the week she was successful.

Yesterday she led a delegation of her right-wing coalition partners to the Quirinale Palace to confirm to the President of the Republic,Sergio Mattarella, that she had a workable government with a majority – albeit a tiny one.

Being a woman, Giorgia’s a rarity – and an elected one at that

Giorgia Meloni is an elected politician. In recent years Italy has mostly had unelected Prime Ministers appointed by the President. Many of these have in effect been technocratic place-men, some imposed by Brussels.

In the fractious world of Italian politics, governments come and go with monotonous regularity, and so do their Prime Ministers. In fact Italy’s post-war political history makes the last six years of turmoil at the head of government in the UK look almost like a period of unruffled tranquillity.

“Bunga-Bunga” Berlusconi almost bunged up coalition negotiations

Meloni’s path even to forming a government was a difficult one. The veteran, octogenarian former PM Silvio Berlusconi didn’t only describe her as “overbearing and offensive”, he also stated his support for Russia’s Putin and blamed the war on Ukraine.

Meloni came out fighting, saying any coalition partner must accept a pro-NATO position or be out. Berlusconi, leader of ‘Forza Italia’, backed down.

When it comes to women Berlusconi has ‘history’, shall we say.

It might be said by some that Boris Johnson is practically a choirboy by comparison.

It isn’t only the belligerent Berlusconi she has to contend with, Meloni will also find it tough getting her policies approved by Matteo Salvini of the Lega party. Only then can she turn to all the external threats, personified by the EU Commission, the ECB, and the world markets' bond traders.

So, a tax-cutting, right-of-centre, female Prime Minister….

When Liz Truss and her Chancellor announced their tax-cutting policies, it was Ms Truss’ undoing. No-one will know whether her policies would have been successful, because the timing and the nature of the communications was so poorly thought-out.

This gave the markets an opportunity to make billions and it gave the Establishment the excuse it needed to ‘rid themselves of this troublesome woman’.

Giorgia Meloni’s problems are even more mountainous. Italy’s economy has been in trouble since the start of the century. Its debt to GDP ratio is currently the second-highest in the EU, at 150.2%. (Official Q2 figures.) At the end of 2021 Italy’s deficit was running at 7.1% - way above the Eurozone’s maximum.

Any attempt by Ms Meloni to cut taxes is almost certain to be met with a brick wall by Germany and some other EU countries. With Italy needing some €200 billion in EU funding to get it through its Coronavirus overspend, the new Italian PM is going to have quite a job on her hands.

The Italians always do it with incomparable style

Italy is a magnificent country, rich in art, architecture, and culture. Below is the cabinet meeting room in the Palazzo Chigi. It is in the Palazzo that Giorgia Meloni and her ministers will be sworn in at 10.30am tomorrow.

The British cabinet meeting room is steeped in history, but the Italians win hands down on the elegance, style and beauty of their version. The only thing spoiling this view is the EU flag next to the Italian flag….

Observations

Giorgia Meloni is diminutive in stature but combative by nature. You don’t rise to the top in the macho world of Italian politics without having real determination and some pretty special qualities. Yesterday she said: “We are ready and we want to move forward in the shortest possible time.”

As she prepares for power, she knows she will need every ounce of her negotiation skills and feistiness to take on the Brussels and Berlin monoliths. From the comment from Italy’s largest neighbour yesterday, it appears she will also face opposition from Paris:: “I am ready to work with Meloni,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. That was big of him…

Europe knows spaghetti, Versace, Lamborghini and Ferrari, Pavarotti, Fellini and Vivaldi, tortellini, cannelloni and rigatoni… Now it must prepare for Meloni.

And finally, in keeping with our occasional weekend tradition…

By popular demand we are re-publishing the video of Giorgia Meloni, made by some musicians to ridicule her before the election, but which had the opposite effect and went viral. (“I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian”)

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[ Sources: The Quirinale | Italian government | EU Commission statistics agency ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 22 Oct 2022

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Reader Comments 7

1. Tim B , Saturday, October 22, 2022, 09:15:

Our media including the BBC are still labelling her ‘far right’. When they use that term for her quite moderate policies, how would they describe the Ku Klux Klan?

2. Torquil D-E. , Saturday, October 22, 2022, 18:10:

Meloni's political roots are in Italian neo-fascism, as shown by the tricolour flame in her party's logo. She now says that Mussolini's anti-semitic racial laws of 1938 and his partnership with Hitler were terrible, and that she is now pro-EU, pro-NATO, etc. Yet her nominee for Italy's Vice-President (Speaker of the Senate) is an old Fascist whose middle-name is Benito-Maria. And she is in partnership with Berlusconi, who is and has long been "best friends" with Putin (exchanging gifts and "very sweet letters" only last month), and who says the Ukraine war is all Zelensky's fault.And his party Forza Italia includes Alessandra Mussolini, the proudly unreconstructed granddaughter of Il Duce, elected to the European and to the Italian Parliaments on his ticket (and elected on account of her surname, not despite it !). Berlusconi's man, Signor Tajani, is now Meloni's Foreign Minister. He says he is in line with Meloni's pro-Ukraine anti-Russia policy, but this puts him in contradiction with his party boss, who however chose him to be Foreign Minister.
We wonder, what is their real policy? Maybe we shall find out in a few weeks, when the new government is firmly established in the saddle with its hands on the levers of power, and feels confident enough to hoist its true colours..

3. jon livesey , Saturday, October 22, 2022, 22:54:

The "guessing game" approach to Meloni misses the point. Politicians and their programs emerge from backgrounds. Mossollini emerged in an Italy that was badly affected b the post-war slump, and which was deeply resentful of the outcome of the War compared to its unrealistic expectations. Mussolini played to that and for a while he looked pretty effective.
Italy today has an economy that has not grown for two decades and is resentful of its second-class status in the EU. It was just a matter of time before someone came along and offered the old patriotism and authority-based solutions and Meloni happens to be the one.
Politicians do not exist in a vacuum. The question is not "Who is Meloni?", but who are the Italians in 2022 that they elected her? I am sure they can handle the tricky business of decoding party logos.

4. Buster , Sunday, October 23, 2022, 12:33:

She is a fascist. She might have blonde hair but please don’t think this jackboot wearer is anything other than a gutter dwelling lowlife.

5. One eyed king , Sunday, October 23, 2022, 16:49:

Buster I shall judge her by her actions and not by political prejudice of the dejected orthodox. The pendulum swinging away from the Chinese paymastersand back to the free. The matter of fascist doctrines lies at the feet of the belligerent not national identity, no matter the attempt

6. Nabu , Sunday, October 23, 2022, 20:55:

1. Tim B,
They could go further. Her party is the Phoenix of fascism, she merely personifies it. The KKK, while it has become normalised for some, is not an electable body - even if some wish it were.
2.jon livesey,
That's like saying, the Germans who elected Hitler knew he'd almost destroy the world & elected him for that purpose.
They too succumbed to indoctrination & propaganda, baited by some selfish desire for former glory or the thwarting of some perceived enemy - real or imagined.
Same goes for Trumpians, Brexiteers, Sweden Democrats - the latter whom have evidenced roots directly from the nazis.
Do Swedes not remember the nazis? - of course they do. Even if only from the neutral side-lines.
That's fear in motion. A former peril, once instinctively reviled, is offered as a (final) solution to a current enemy & people flock to it out of fear. Fighting fire with fire.
And unlike Germany, the fascists were never dragged to Nuremberg, the embers were never put out - the fascist flame is now being fanned by well wishers.
Though obvious to all, ask this - would the world welcome a German party , with swastika, into politics? How is this different?
She is pro-EU only because she'd forever be consigned to preaching to a handful instead of affecting national events if she didn't.
At first opportunity, if she is still around, she'll discard the pretence. If she is not, she'll just pass the torch on her way out.
Populists might be ok with that, but the politically sane are in containment mode, as this surely can quickly transform into something no one can
stop - just like it did the last time.
Italians don't understand why the world is alarmed, no penalty - no foul; for them, this is a continuation - play on!
Chamberlain will forever be remembered as "the appeaser" - current populists might yet go down in history as "The Enablers",

7. Nabu , Sunday, October 23, 2022, 21:01:

4. Buster
She is hoping many people won't think at all.
5. Truss was widely reputed as being out of her depth - yet she was voted in, at great expense, only to incur even greater expense,
just so you could 'judge her by her actions' after-the-fact. So too was Boris - who may be subbed on for the 2nd half.
To them, it's a game for you to either cheer or boo but can't stop. Avoid disaster if you can. That used to be an instinct.
The problem has become that people can no longer identify or learn from disasters of their own making.

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