Giorgia Meloni's term of office, which began in October 2022, has entered a new phase. While the Donald Trump and Elon Musk partnership is shaking up American democracy, fears of illiberal drift are felt in Rome, where checks and balances are under attack. At the same time, the Italian prime minister's foothold in public opinion appears to be more solid than ever, as she asserts herself as a leading figure in a worldwide nationalist and reactionary movement with representatives from Buenos Aires to Berlin.

Meloni's party, Fratelli d'Italia (FdI), whose roots are in the Italian Social Movement founded by figures from the country's Fascist dictatorship, currently holds 30% of voting intentions, according to polling company Youtrend on January 31. The FdI has surpassed its scores of 26% recorded in the 2022 parliamentary elections, and 29% in the 2024 European elections.

Clear endorsement

The coalition dominated by Meloni, with its far-right and center-right components, has more than 49% in the polls. This is a clear endorsement of a personality and the values she embodies by a substantial part of the electorate.

In one of her previous political lives, in the years following the founding of her party in 2012, Meloni could have been described as a populist, someone "against the system" – on a par with the British Brexiteers, the Trump of 2016 or the French leaders of the far-right Rassemblement National party. Today, she is the system. And Italy's old republican institutions are presented as cumbersome obstacles by her people.

Parliament is in retreat. The Meloni government is imposing its rhythm on it with a barrage of decree laws as numerous as during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Openpolis, an independent non-profit organization that promotes free access to data on public life. The Italian executive branch is also at war with the country's judges, who are holding back "innovative solutions" in the field of immigration, such as the painstakingly slow start of Italian detention centers in Albania.

You have 61.13% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.