On her first day in office Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni renamed the country’s economic development department as the “Industry and Made in Italy Ministry”. It appeared to be a small bureaucratic tweak. An easy change of branding for a government inheriting almost €3 trillion ($3.2 trillion) of debt that will curb spending on new policy initiatives. Instead it was a statement of intent by Italy’s first female prime minister of her plan to introduce what some have dubbed a nationalist vision for corporate Italy — one that views dozens of state-owned companies as a way to cement power and drive change in the economy.
From a €20 billion deal to buy Telecom Italia’s network to the recent sale of a stake in ITA Airways and attempts to restrict the role of Chinese owners at Pirelli SpA, the Meloni government has already intervened in Italy Inc. The aim: to influence and reshape the country’s long term industrial strategy and institutions. Meloni is not the first Italian premier to intervene in state-owned companies. But the outsider, who came to power as leader of a small far-right party, is determined to secure control over strategic infrastructure.
Top of her “Italy First” agenda is the creation of national champions in areas from energy to fashion and luxury and the launch of a sovereign wealth fund to finance them. But, the prime minister is engaged in a delicate balancing act, morphing from the populist campaigner — anti-immigrant, dismissive of LGBTQ rights and protective of Italian sovereignty — to pro-investor, steadfast in her support of Ukraine in its fight against Russia and navigating a right-wing coalition of vested interests.
