Italy’s fascist party leader could become country’s first female prime minister after current PM resigned
- Hard-right firebrand Giorgia Meloni, a successor to Mussolini, is tipped for PM
- The ex-Berlusconi ally and Brothers of Italy leader, 45, is leading in the polls
- Her strict social stance includes opposing gay adoption and blockading borders
- PM Mario Draghi sent resignation letter last week – but was rejected by president
The leader of hard-right party Brothers of Italy has been tipped to become the nation’s next prime minister amid a fresh wave of political chaos in the country.
Firebrand Giorgia Meloni, whose party includes Il Duce’s granddaughter as a councillor in Rome, is leading in the polls ahead of a likely snap election.
Ms Meloni, 45, has called for an election ‘now’ after incumbent PM Mario Draghi tabled his resignation, which was rejected by President Mattarella.
Ex-cabinet minister Meloni became the youngest in Italian history when she served under Silvio Berlusconi.
Giorgia Meloni, pictured in April, has called for an immediate election after the government fell
She left his his centre-right grouping after three years.
Berlusconi’s collapse and the sputtering of far-right rivals The League has seen Brothers of Italy surge in the polls – and rival current PM Mario Draghi’s Democrats.
Popular policies including a naval blockade of the North African coast to stop migrants reaching Italian shores.
She also backs financial incentives for couples to have more children, making Italy less dependent on migrant labour.
Although Meloni has courted controversy with her opposition to gay adoption.
Yet having spiked from a 4 per cent vote share at the 2018 general elections to an estimated 22 per cent now, Meloni has certainly found an audience.
Her biggest obstacle, however, is Berlusconi and League party leader Matteo Salvini’s opposition to an election.
Silvio Berlusconi, formerly Ms Meloni’s ally, has said there should not be an election soon
Putin lapdog Dmitry Medvedev responded to Draghi’s resignation attempt with a meme also showing Boris Johnson, captioned: ‘Who’s next?’
Ms Meloni has described the EU as a ‘failure’ and historically taken a soft line on Russia, though this has been reversed since the invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Meanwhile Mr Draghi weighed his options after populist ally the 5-Star Movement sparked a crisis by withholding support on a government-sponsored bill.
On the immediate horizon are behind-the-scenes consultations through mid-week to see if Draghi could be persuaded to continue governing with a newly constituted majority – which key parties seem to want – or some other option other than an early election as soon as September.
Who is Giorgia Meloni?
Leader of hard-right party Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni is seen as a spiritual successor to Benito Mussolini.
In fact, Rachele Mussolini – Il Duce’s granddaughter – is a party councillor.
Meloni, 45, has shot to fame in the past two years as her grouping gained in the polls.
She was previously Minister for Youth Policies in Silvio Berlusconi’s cabinet from 2008 to 2011.
But has hardened her right-wing stance since she was part of the centre-right government.
A socially conservative firebrand, she backs old-school authoritarian policies including opposition to gay adoption.
Brothers of Italy also supports blockading the nation’s borders and raising the Italian birth rate so the country depends less on migrant labour.
Now leading the polls, Meloni is a hot favourite to succeed Mario Draghi as prime minister of Italy.
She has called for the government to hold an election immediately – and may return to government in coalition with Berlusconi and fellow far-right figure Matteo Salvini.
Draghi immediately offered to resign Thursday after 5-Star senators boycotted a vote on helping Italians cope with rising energy prices, arguing that the conditions that created his national unity government, which included parties on the right, left and the 5-Stars, no longer exist.
But President Sergio Mattarella rejected his offer and told Draghi to go back to Parliament on Wednesday to brief lawmakers and offer ‘an evaluation of the situation.’
Significantly Mattarella didn’t call for a confidence vote. Draghi has been clear that there wouldn’t be a second Draghi government or one without the 5-Stars. The extra days of limbo Mattarella prescribed would allow Draghi at least to have a planned visit to Algeria to finalize key agreements on gas imports.
The turmoil couldn’t have come at a worse time for the eurozone’s third-largest economy. Italy is facing soaring inflation and energy costs as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, a prolonged drought that is threatening crops and the ongoing implementation of its EU-financed pandemic recovery program.
While Draghi might still have the support of key allies to continue leading the government, some parties on the far-right and right are already gunning for an early election.
‘With Draghi’s resignation, this legislature is over for the Brothers of Italy,’ said Georgia Meloni, head of the right-wing party that is polling around 22%, nearly the same as the center-left Democratic Party. ‘We’ll fight until the Italian people are given back a right that citizens of every other democracy have: the freedom to choose their own representatives.’
Meloni’s usual center-right allies – the Forza Italia party of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the League led by Matteo Salvini – indicated a wait-and-see approach.
In a joint statement published on Friday, they backed Draghi for what they said was his understandable ire and blasted the 5-Stars for having created a national crisis over their opposition to a new garbage incinerator for Rome.
‘I have no words,’ Forza Italia’s Antonio Tajani said.
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