Giorgia Meloni is set to become Italy’s first-ever female prime minister after her Brothers of Italy won a startling victory last week. Yet, actually governing Italy may prove a difficult task with most Italian governments lasting less than two years in office.
She captured the presidency with a take no prisoners style and skillful use of populist politics. For example, she once struck at French President Emmanuel Macron with a critique of France’s role in Africa that reflects her careful political instincts in a video shared widely on social media.
“Do not come to teach us lessons, Macron; the Africans are abandoning their continent because of you,” Meloni said at an Italian conservative conference in 2018, “The solution is not to transfer Africans to Europe but to liberate Africa from some Europeans.”
