Giorgia Meloni has done much in her two years as Italy’s prime minister to distance herself from her hard-right past, aligning with the Western mainstream on key international issues. But this week, she issued strong reminders of her conservative beliefs.

On Wednesday, the country’s senate broadened an existing ban on surrogacy, making it illegal for Italians to seek surrogate births abroad. That was just a few hours after the Italian Navy took the first migrants to Albania as part of Italy’s new plan to process asylum claims outside the country.

Those policies, touching upon the right’s flagship themes of migration and family values, were powerful, symbolic gestures.

“She doesn’t want to do far-right,” said Roberto D’Alimonte, a political scientist at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome. “But she needs to offer a sop to her base.”

Mr. D’Alimonte added that Ms. Meloni was “walking a tightrope” by holding positions that made her a credible partner on the international stage while holding onto her right-wing base.

“It’s a balancing act,” he said.

Ms. Meloni has not only moved on from her past, but has gone further, taking steps to distance herself from much of the European far right, casting herself as a bridge between the mainstream center and unpalatable nationalist parties, such as Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party in Hungary.