Now that the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale and the snap parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7 have opened up the possibility of a government led by the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, it is essential to look over the Alps. In Rome, a coalition of the right and the far right has governed under the leadership of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni since October 2022. The political groups that compose it are a mirror – albeit with different proportions – of the convergence of part of the French right.
In Paris, the alliance currently under construction brings together the RN, Marion Maréchal and Eric Ciotti. These three components, drawn from the sovereignist, national-conservative and populist groups, correspond to three distinct groups in the European Parliament and match exactly the three groups that make up the Italian executive branch.
The RN MEPs sit within the Identity and Democracy group alongside those from Matteo Salvini's League, a pillar of Meloni's majority. Meloni's own party, Brothers of Italy, is allied with Reconquête!, Maréchal's former party, as part of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. Antonio Tajani's Forza Italia, which represents the traditional right in Rome's executive branch, is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), as is Les Républicains, Ciotti's original party.
In Italy, the alliance of these three right-wing parties dates back to the 1994 general election. The alliance was initially dominated by Forza Italia, then run by Silvio Berlusconi (1936-2023), before coming under the control of Salvini's League in the 2018 general election. Finally, it was taken over by Meloni's Brothers of Italy. Now that they are in charge, Brothers of Italy's top brass describe Berlusconi's idea of a union of the right as "visionary."
Pledges to Brussels
Although the traditional alliance in the European Parliament between the EPP, the Social Democrats and the liberals of Renew Europe – where Macronists sit – is in the majority following the elections that ended on June 9, Meloni continues to call for a "center-right" majority in the parliament, modeled after the alliance between the three groups of the Italian right.
The ongoing reshuffling in the European Parliament's right wing, where Brothers of Italy intends to enter into some sort of alliance with the RN, and the negotiations for the presidency of the European Commission are the backdrop to the rhetoric from Meloni and her political allies since their party's success in the EU elections (28.9% of the vote). However, Meloni's discourse on a union of the European right comes after she spent the beginning of her term making pledges to Brussels and advocating a new approach to immigration.
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