Following Italy’s general election, leading MEPs and politicians are warning of a government led by right-wing politician Giorgia Meloni.
According to initial forecasts, the alliance of Meloni’s far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, the right-wing populist Lega and the conservative Forza Italia has won an absolute majority in both houses of parliament. Many politicians see this victory as a worrying development for the future of Europe and the European Union.
“Giorgia Meloni will be a prime minister whose political role models are Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump. The election victory of the alliance of right-centre parties in Italy is therefore worrying,” said Katharina Barley (SPD), Vice-President of the EU Parliament, the “world”. Meloni’s “election campaign tactical lip service for Europe” cannot hide the fact that she poses a threat to constructive coexistence in Europe, said the former German Minister of Justice.
The spokesman for the German Greens in the EU Parliament, Rasmus Andresen, said that the “unprecedented Italian shift to the right” would have a massive impact on Europe and the European Union. “Italy, as a founding member and the third strongest economy in the EU, is heading towards an anti-democratic and anti-European government,” Andresen said in a statement.
Politicians from the German AfD, the right-wing national Rassemblement National from France and the Polish PiS, on the other hand, congratulated Giorgia Meloni on winning the elections in Italy.
“We’re celebrating with Italy!” Wrote AfD member of parliament Beatrix von Storch on Twitter late on Sunday evening. Her party colleague Malte Kaufmann tweeted: “A good day for Italy – a good day for Europe.” Referring to the recent elections in Sweden, in which the right was also successful, von Storch wrote: “Sweden in the north, Italy in the south: Left-wing governments are so yesterday.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter “Congratulations @Giogia Meloni”. French MEP Jordan Bardella from Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) wrote on Twitter that the Italians had given European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “a lesson in humility”.
The German politician said last week that her agency had “tools” if Italy, under a right-wing government, failed to comply with EU rules. “No threat of any kind can stop democracy,” wrote the RN party leader. “The peoples of Europe lift up their heads and take back control of their destiny.”
