She insists on using the masculine form of her title – Il Presidente del Consiglio, and once after being called “stronza” or “b****” at a campaign rally by President Vincenzo De Luca of Campania region, she showed up to an event in his region and greeted the opposition politician as “President De Luca, I am that b****, Meloni. How are you doing?”
She has been ranked the most powerful person in Europe out of 28 contenders by Politico and it is none other than Italy’s post-fascist Prime Minister – Giorgia Meloni.
Setting aside her “ultranationalist” image, Meloni, in less than a decade has adopted a more centrist approach and emerged as Italy’s Prime Minister.
Members of her coalition do not want to challenge her and the opposition openly admits that they cannot defeat her, and she is earning recognition from European leaders who were earlier sceptical about her.
Although an endorser of Benito Mussolini, being at the forefront of dragging European politics to the far right and introducing stringent policies on migration and LGBTQ+ rights, her government has brought stability to an otherwise volatile political landscape of Italy.
Running the third largest economy of the Eurozone for over two years, her leadership style has earned her the title of Italy’s “alpha” figure.
But her governance has sparked apprehension regarding the fall of democratic standards, press freedom and the protection of minority groups and rights.
She has tried to silence critics, newspapers, journalists and even Italian judges by using courts and defamation suits. The Council of Europe had also warned that the, “excessive criticism of individual judges … puts their independence at risk.”
Giorgia Meloni is riding the wave of the winning political phenomenon called ultranationalism and has multiple advantages up her sleeve – like leading a founding E.U. member and a significant NATO partner.
Notwithstanding the fact that president-elect Donald Trump disdains Europe and refers to it as a “mini-China”, she is adored by the key adviser to the president – Elon Musk, who is very impressed by her immigration policies. Although expecting Musk to be a bridge between Trump and Meloni will be a stretch, the landscape of Europe has changed significantly since when Trump was last president. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
