The far-right party of Italian head of government Giorgia Meloni, Fratelli d’Italia, won the European elections on the peninsula.
AFP
The far-right party of Italian head of government Giorgia Meloni, Fratelli d’Italia, won the European elections on the peninsula, allowing it to emerge strengthened from this election, in Rome as in Brussels.
“THANKS. Fratelli d’Italia confirms its position as the leading Italian party by surpassing the result of the last elections,” the woman who has ruled Italy since October 2022 welcomed on X.
Fratelli d’Italia comes first with 28.8% of the votes, according to the almost final results from the Ministry of the Interior.
“Meloni stronger in Europe,” headlined the Roman daily Il Messaggero on Monday. “Victory for Meloni and Le Pen”, noted “Stampa”.
This score from Ms. Meloni, herself head of the list and who had made this election a referendum on her person by asking voters to simply write “Giorgia” on their ballot, marks a progression compared to her score of 26% obtained in the 2022 legislative elections which opened the doors to power for him.
A performance to be compared to the lowest participation rate ever recorded in Italy for Europeans, at 49.69%.
During a brief public intervention, the Prime Minister said she was “proud of the result of Fratelli d’Italia” and “proud that this country presents itself to the G7 and in Europe with the strongest government of all”, while the other leaders of major European countries, notably the French Emmanuel Macron and the German Olaf Scholz, emerge very weakened from this election.
The leaders of the G7, chaired this year by Italy, are meeting from Thursday to Saturday in Puglia.
The Democratic Party (PD, center left), the main opposition party, comes in second with 24%, followed by the 5 Star Movement (populist) led by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte with more than 9.9%.
In the big leagues
Ms. Meloni’s two coalition partners, Forza Italia, the conservative party founded by Silvio Berlusconi and member of the European People’s Party (EPP), and Matteo Salvini’s Anti-Migrant League received 9.7% and 9.1% respectively.
A rout for the League, ally of the French National Rally in Strasbourg, which had won the lion’s share with 34.26% of the votes in 2019. Matteo Salvini, frenzied user of social networks, had still not reacted Monday morning on X when the results are announced.
Coming to power in October 2022 with nearly 200 billion euros in aid and European loans under the post-pandemic recovery plan, Giorgia Meloni managed to maintain a consensus on her person, thanks among other things to the divisions of his opponents and taking care not to directly attack fundamental rights such as abortion.
Its progress compared to the 2019 European elections is impressive: Fratelli d’Italia then only gathered 6.44% of the votes.
This result should allow Ms. Meloni to strengthen her weight in Brussels, where she has already managed to impose some of her favorite themes, such as the fight against the arrival of migrants in Europe.
Unlike her ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, she also managed to establish herself as an interlocutor for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, notably thanks to her pro-Ukrainian positioning.
In the European Parliament, Fratelli d’Italia is part of the group of European Conservatives and Reformists alongside the Spanish far-right party Vox and the small French party Reconquête.
The other far-right group, Identity and Democracy, includes the League and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which won a historic victory in France.
The rapprochement of these two groups remains very uncertain due to their significant differences, particularly on Russia.
“I don’t think Meloni wants to come back and work with people like Le Pen,” Daniele Albertazzi of the Center for Britain and Europe think tank told AFP.
“I think she will try to play in the big leagues and focus on the EPP,” adds the analyst, for whom “Meloni wants to be seen voting for the next president of the Commission.”
(afp)
