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"Politico" declares Giorgia Meloni the most powerful leader in Europe

Politiko 2024-12-11 12:31:47

In less than a decade, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party has gone from being dismissed to being elected prime minister of Italy and establishing herself as a figure with whom Brussels, and now Washington, can do business, writes 'Politico' .

Although she has moved into the center, Meloni - who began her political career as an activist in the youth wing of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement and praised dictator Benito Mussolini as "a good politician who did everything he did for the good of Italy" - has been at the forefront of a wave that is pulling European politics towards the far right.

Indeed, since her election in 2022, the Italian prime minister has introduced policies on issues like migration and LGBTQ+ rights that would once have drawn condemnation from Brussels. Instead, the reaction from European Union leaders has ranged from indifference to approval, with many accepting Meloni as the pleasant representative of the increasingly radical zeitgeist flourishing on both sides of the Atlantic.

The inability of conventional politicians to counter an increasingly popular ultranationalist narrative and their willingness to collaborate with Meloni on the European stage enable Italy's 47-year-old prime minister - who insists on using the masculine form of her official title, Il Presidente del Consiglio - to be a strongman capable of wielding extraordinary power at a time when the continent lacks powerful centers capable of taking it on.

Meloni made headlines around the world when she became Italy’s first female prime minister, but few predicted she would last long in office. Experts expected internal squabbles to inevitably split her governing coalition of right-wing parties, and there was little appetite for her in Brussels. After years of tolerating the actions of Hungary’s Viktor Orban, key EU figures were not enthusiastic about the arrival of a leader who had campaigned on “God, fatherland and family” and formed a government with parties sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But over the past two years, Meloni has consolidated her government as one of the most stable in post-war Italy. Although the country is burdened with a national debt equal to 137 percent of its gross domestic product, the economic outlook is not so dire as to scare away foreign investors attracted by the remarkably calm political environment.

Meloni's carefully cultivated image contributes to the image of stability. After the president of the Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, referred to the prime minister as a "stronza" ("whore") at a campaign rally, the prime minister appeared at an event in his region and greeted the opposition politician by saying: "President De Luca, I am that whore, Meloni. How are you?"

Moreover, Meloni has targeted Italian judges who have ruled that some of her government's policies are illegal, posting scenes on social media accusing them of plotting against her. Several jurists have subsequently received death threats and sought police protection. The Council of Europe, a top human rights body, recently warned that "excessive criticism of individual judges puts their independence at risk."