Italy’s Meloni at crossroads after far-right Le Pen’s defeat

4 months ago 22

The defeat of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National in the second round of the French parliamentary elections has put Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in front of a dilemma: follow the “pragmatic” approach or be driven by her “identitarian relapses” as one analyst described.

“She will have to make a decision, choose whether to follow more identitarian relapses or continue, in a pragmatic approach, in a perspective of dialogue with what will be the next European majority”, Leo Goretti, head of the foreign policy programme at the Italian Institute of International Affairs (IAI), told Euractiv.

For Goretti, the pragmatic approach is “the most sensible and logical choice”, but it should not be taken for granted.

In the past, the Italian leader had what Goretti describes as “identitarian relapses”, moments when a more radical and identitarian attitude surprisingly prevailed over pragmatism, such as her abstention in the EU Council during the vote on Ursula von der Leyen a few weeks ago.

Before the EU elections, Meloni was saying her mission was to unite Europe’s right-wing parties and a rapprochement with France’s far-right Marine Le Pen was observed.

But within two weeks, things turned upside down as the united front of hard-right parties came from Hungary’s Viktor Orbán while Le Pen was massively defeated in the French elections.

Particularly, Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR) became the third largest in the EU Parliament, overtaking the EU Liberals, until last Monday (8 July), when the far-right “Patriots for Europe” was formed and pushed ECR into fourth place.

In practice, Meloni’s support for von der Leyen’s reelection is not needed as the pro-EU coalition (EPP, S&D, Renew)—and perhaps with the support of the Greens—theoretically provides the incumbent EU Commission chief with a safe majority.

The ‘stable government’ narrative

Regarding Le Pen’s defeat, Meloni tried to turn it in her favour.

“We were used to a time when Italy had a very unstable government, in a Europe with very stable governments. Today, we see an Italy with a very stable government in a Europe with very unstable governments. And this should make us proud,” Meloni said on Tuesday.

Similarly, Tommaso Foti, leader of her Fratelli d’Italia party in parliament, said Meloni can retain her position as “the only right-wing leader to have won in a major European country”.

The analyst noted that not having an alter ego in France can be positive for Meloni, given that Le Pen “was definitely a potentially competitive profile compared to Meloni at the European level.”

According to Foti, a potentially allied government in France led by the Rassemblement National could have “highlighted more clearly how radical right-wing governments in different countries can have conflicting agendas”.

The ‘pragmatic’ approach

Others, such as ECR co-chair Nicola Procaccini suggest that Meloni’s EU group could be the “bridge” between the EPP and the far-right “Patriots for Europe”.

“Our goal is to act as mediators between the EPP and the right-wing parties,” he said last Sunday.

In addition, Antonio Tajani, an influential member of the EPP and coalition partner of Meloni in Italy, insists that his EU centre-right family should engage with Meloni’s ECR rather than the Greens.

Several EPP leaders tried to appease Meloni at the last EU Council, saying Italy is an important country that should be considered. However, the pro-EU majority excluded her from the talks about the EU’s top jobs.

(Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it – Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Alice Taylor)