Italy: Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni becomes first woman to obtain premiership

The swearing-in of Meloni and her Cabinet was announced by a representative of the presidential palace for Saturday. In Italy’s recent national election, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, received the largest share of votes.

Meloni, a 45-year-old career politician, told reporters a few hours prior to the announcement of the formation of the new government that she and her allies had unanimously requested that President Sergio Mattarella grant them the authority to govern.

Obtaining the premiership capped a remarkably quick rise for the Brothers of Italy. Meloni co-founded the party in December 2012, and it was considered a fringe movement on the right during its first years.

Before leaving the Quirinal presidential palace, Meloni remained silent in public. Her two primary, occasionally troublesome right-wing allies, former premier Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini, met with Mattarella earlier in the day.

After the election on 25 September, Mattarella said he was happy that the government was established in a “brief time.” The formation of a new ruling coalition after the 2018 election took three months.

A new government being installed in the nation quickly “was made possible by the clarity of the vote outcome and the need to move forward quickly, as well as by the domestic and international conditions that require a government in its entirety to carry out its tasks,” Mattarella told reporters.

Energy prices are out of control in Italy and much of the rest of Europe, and the drama of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine could restrict gas supplies this winter, pushing up household and commercial power costs.

While Meloni fervently supports Ukraine in its defence against the Russian invasion, Berlusconi and Salvini have long been admirers of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The coalition that controls them may face difficulties as a result of these differences.

The election triumph of Meloni’s party had infuriated three-time premier Berlusconi. In a vote with a record-low turnout, the Brothers of Italy won with 26%, followed by Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and the League of Salvini, an anti-immigration party, with just over 8% each.

In 2018, when Italy held its previous parliamentary election, Meloni’s party took just over 4%.

Even though the members of her party are the majority in the Italian Parliament, Meloni still needs the backing of both of her allies to command a strong majority.

(With inputs from AP)