What’s next for Italy after Giorgia Meloni as prime minister?
Giorgia Meloni, a hard-right politician who will soon become Italy’s first female prime minister, won the election with a platform that included support for traditional “family values,” anti-LGBTQ sentiments, and a commitment to stop migrant ships.
She is poised to build the most right-wing administration Italy has seen in decades as the leader of an alliance of far-right and center-right parties, with her own Brothers of Italy at the forefront.
Despite Meloni’s victory in the recent parliamentary elections, many Italians are still unsure what will happen next given her pledge to lead the country in a hard-right direction.
Two more right-wing leaders are part of the alliance that makes up the new government.
One is Matteo Salvini, a former interior minister who turned his League party from a northern separatist party into a nationalist powerhouse in 2018 and became the darling of the far right.
The other is Silvio Berlusconi, a former Italian prime minister who is best known for his “bunga bunga” scandals with young girls.
Berlusconi is a center-right politician.
Both men have previously professed their appreciation for Russian President Vladimir Putin in public, which has raised concerns about the coalition’s strategy toward Russia.
Nonetheless, liberals within Italy and the European Union are fearful of what the promised rightward turn may mean for the country and its future while conservative constituents feel only a strong-arm politician, like Meloni, can lead the country out of crisis amid soaring energy costs and high youth unemployment.
Giuramento del nuovo Governo. Seguiteci in diretta: https://t.co/2JnqHVFDCv pic.twitter.com/TFy16u7bca
— Giorgia Meloni 🇮🇹 ن (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 22, 2022
