Giorgia Meloni Has a Mandate But Little Time
Italy’s new government will need to prioritize stable finances and economic growth — not more culture-war provocations.
Time to get serious.
Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg
Those disheartened by the election campaign run by Giorgia Meloni may think that the best thing about Italy’s incoming government will be its likely transience. Hers will be the country’s 70th government since World War II. But it would be wrong to conclude that Italian leaders don’t matter. To the contrary, Europe badly needs a stable Italy capable of tackling long-festering economic and social problems that threaten to spiral out of control.
If Meloni wants to achieve anything while in office, she’ll first need to tone down the retrograde rhetoric that characterized her campaign. Her Brothers of Italy party is squarely rooted in postwar neo-fascism, a legacy Meloni has at times embroidered with her own brand of euro-skepticism. Her campaign featured attacks on immigrants and what she called the “LGBT lobby.” She has sometimes echoed the xenophobic language of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. It’s no wonder that the outside world has some doubts about her aptitude. She’ll need to decide if she wants to provoke or to govern.