During the national holiday of Ferragosto in mid-August, nearly all Italians are on holiday with their families. Politics is usually taboo. Not this year. Italy has been plunged into a very unusual “summer election” (polling day is 25 September), with the collapse of its flimsy, “emergency” coalition government in July. Now, the constant talk is of deals, candidates, constituencies and bartering. Italy’s holidays have been ruined.
Barring an unlikely political miracle, Giorgia Meloni will become prime minister. This will be a historic moment for Italy and for Europe: Meloni is head of the far-right and populist Brothers of Italy party – the direct political heir of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (with which it shares part of its symbol, a flag-flame). One of the central eurozone nations will be governed by a largely Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant, centre-right coalition. The alliance between Meloni, Matteo Salvini’s Lega and the remnants of the 85-year-old Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia! will almost certainly have a strong majority.
