How far to the right will Italy go? The new face of European politics is called Georgia Meloni. Her fascist-rooted Brothers of Italy party has swept to power, overshadowing her hard-right coalition partners Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi and routing the centre-left, which finished under 20 percent. Why did voters go for a Meloni whose allies include illiberal parties in power in Hungary and Poland, along with Spain's far-right Vox?
The win spells the end of the national unity government led by former European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi, seen by markets as a steady hand in the face of a Covid-fuel debt crisis and a solid ally against Vladimir Putin's designs on Ukraine and beyond. Meloni too is anti-Putin, but her friends' friends are not always NATO's friends.
More broadly, is there a more engrained trend? Voter disillusion appears to be one: this election was marked by a record abstention rate and a populist who catches the vibe of voters who want protection from an uncertain world. Meloni campaigned on bread-and-butter issues, sounding pragmatic on the economy while radically unbridled on social issues; bashing immigrants, Islam, gay rights and abortion. Campaigning as a culture warrior certainly seems to have been the winning ticket this time around in Italy.
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.
