As Italy prepares to head to the polls on September 25, the world is closely watching one woman who could become the country’s first female prime minister.
Giorgia Meloni is celebrating her eighth year as leader of far-right party, Brothers of Italy, a political group with neo-fascist roots. The 45-year old former journalist could become the first far-right leader since 1922, when fascist dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power.
Meloni has been a controversial figure since she entered politics. In 1996, she praised Mussolini as “a good politician, the best in the last 50 years” in a television interview. Tipped to win the upcoming election, she has stood on a platform based on patriotism, Christianity, and motherhood.
Let’s take a closer look at the potential in-coming prime minister of Italy.
Background
Meloni was born in the working-class neighbourhood of Garbatella, Rome, in 1977, and became active in student politics as a teenager. She joined the youth branch of the national conservative group Italian Social Movement when she was just 15. Over the next few years, she went on to create Gli Antenati, a student group that rallied against public education reforms.
She rose through the ranks of the National Alliance to become the national leader of its student body, Student Action, before being elected as councillor of the Province of Rome.
In 2016, at the age of 39, she gave birth to her first and only child, Ginevra, which she shares with her partner, journalist Andrea Giambruno.
Political Career
In 2006, at the age of 29, Meloni became the youngest ever vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies — Italy’s lower house of parliament. Two years later, she was appointed Minister of Youth in the cabinet led by Silvio Berlusconi — the longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy.
When she was 32, Berlusconi’s party merged with centre-right group, Forza Italia, to create a new united group called The People of Freedom, and Meloni became the president of its youth section.
By November 2012, she was publicising her bid to become the leader of The People Of Freedom. Though within two years, she had joined forces with former Minister of Defence Ignazio La Russa and anti-EU austerity politician, Guido Crosetto to form their own party — Brothers of Italy.
She was elected the party’s leader in March, 2014. Over the following years, she advocated against LGBTQI rights, same-sex marriage and immigration. She continues to champion her motto, “God, family and country.”
2022 Election Campaign
Since the snap election was called following the fall of the Draghi government last month, Meloni has made headlines with her controversial remarks.
In June, while she was in the Spanish coastal town of Marbella, she gave an impassioned speech espousing the dangers of immigration and homosexuality while supporting Spanish far-right party, Vox.
“Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to the culture of life, no to that of death,” she said. “They will say we are dangerous, extremists, racists, fascists, deniers and homophobes.”
Last week, she recorded video messages in English, French and Spanish saying her party would not threaten Italy’s financial stability and that they would adhere to Rome’s traditional alliances.
“[the Italian right] has handed fascism over to history for decades now, unambiguously condemning the suppression of democracy and the ignominious anti-Jewish laws,” she said, referring to 1938 anti-semitic laws which saw the deportation of Italian Jews to Nazi death camps during the German occupation of Rome at the end of World War II.
“We fiercely oppose any anti-democratic drift with words of firmness that we do not always find in the Italian and European left.”
“Italy needs a united and clear-minded government that will not only avoid wasting a euro of this money but also foster investments and growth in our country.”