 "‘All eyes on her’: How EU elections and G7 presidency boost Giorgia Meloni’s stature")
She was the most unlikely candidate to succeed the legendary Mario Draghi as Prime Minister. Not many believed Italy was ready, even after 75 years of becoming a republic, for a woman as Prime Minister. Not only has Giorgia Meloni proved all her detractors wrong, she has won her first serious electoral test after two years of winning, coming out with flying colours at the European elections.
The elections for the parliament of the European Union have caused a leadership crisis in Europe. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have both fared far worse than expected. In a knee-jerk reaction to the electoral disaster, Macron dissolved the French parliament and announced flash parliamentary elections in France. While he has clarified he doesn’t plan to step down as president, he hopes to conquer a fresh national mandate in order to make up for his party’s dismal European showing.
In Italy, the case is much different. Despite a low voter turnout (49.69 per cent), Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), fared extremely well and was crowned the first party in the EU elections. With 28.8 per cent she remains firmly in control of her coalition. Her coalition partners Matteo Salvini’s Lega Nord (Northern League) and Antonio Tajani’s Forza Italia fared better than expected, at 9.12 per cent and 9.71 per cent, respectively. Tajani has also rejuvenated a party that was written off after the passing of its flamboyant founder, billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, a year ago.
Meloni, however, was in her element, bettering the party’s result of 26 per cent achieved in the national elections two years ago. Heading the list of Fratelli d’Italia, she also carried every constituency with a huge margin, even from her party members, sealing both the leadership of her governing alliance as well as her party’s leadership for the rest of the legislature.
Given her fantastic showing, she also becomes the key power broker in Strasbourg. The outgoing European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, will ask Meloni for her support in achieving a majority in the European Parliament. French Marine Le Pen will also need her help in unifying the extreme right.
Impact Shorts
View All“The result of the European elections is extraordinary. It’s the beginning of a new story in the politics of the European Union. Meloni’s government is the only one in Europe that has been approved by the voters; it is in fact a confirmation that Prime Minister Meloni is and will be a central figure in the new EU legislature,” declared Senator Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, President of the Political Affairs Commission of the European Union and a key leader of Meloni’s party.
The victory also sends her strong into the G7 Heads of State meeting that she is hosting at Borgo Egnazia, Puglia, on June 13–14, as Italy holds the Presidency of the G7. US President Biden is facing a tough re-election this November; the UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is widely expected to lose the elections in July; and both French President Macron and German Chancellor Scholtz have seriously diluted their influence given shocking losses at the European Union elections. Ursula Von der Leyen needs her support for her majority. The only two leaders coming to the G7 summit after receiving the blessings of their electorate are Giorgia Meloni and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who will be a guest of the G7 after swearing in his third mandate a few days ago).
“This time, really, all eyes are on her,” said Francesco Galietti, the founder of Policy Sonar, a political consultancy in Rome. “Everyone assumes that [French president] Emmanuel Macron and [German chancellor] Olaf Scholz are kaputt, or are at least doing some very heavy maintenance work. Meloni is the host. But there’ll be some very big demands.”
“When she was new to the job, she was a good girl, sticking to the agenda of [former PM] Mario Draghi and making the right noise,” said Galietti. “But now there’s war fatigue, and she was hesitant on the use of Italian ammunition to hit targets in Russia. She now has this big hot potato of Russian sanctions … We’ll see if she is true to her original claim of Atlanticism or whether it was a bluff all along.”
Meloni came to power two years ago after years alone in the opposition. Traditionally far-right, she has calmed her detractors by developing a strong relationship with US President Biden and EU Commission President von der Leyen, promising moderation and transatlanticism in governance. She continues to maintain strong relationships with far-right allies, such as Vox in Spain. Observers are sure that she supports former President Donald Trump in his re-election bid, despite her close cooperation with President Biden.
Detractors paint Meloni as an opportunist who will use the G7 to her advantage, waiting patiently to see how Marine Le Pen fares in the French elections before promising her support to Von der Leyen. “Meloni will support von der Leyen, as she currently has no interest in giving more power to Le Pen. If you remember, she was attacked during the election campaign at the Northern League convention by Le Pen. Allying herself with Le Pen would mean alienating the European People’s Party and, therefore, her ally Forza Italia. Le Pen could win the presidential elections in 2027; however, until then, Macron will be in the European Council, and standing in the way of France does not work for this government," observed Giorgio Rutelli, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of ADNKronos.
Despite the challenges in front of her in the coming months in Brussels and on the international stage, Giorgia Meloni will stand tall in a room full of the world’s most powerful men at Borgo Egnazia.
The author is an Indo-Italian entrepreneur and writer, has worked closely and continues to advise various governments in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is the founder of the Dialogue on Democracy. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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