Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was widely seen as a great threat to democracy in Italy when she was first elected, given her party’s links to neofascists and her authoritarian populist rhetoric.
It was a pleasant surprise to learn of Meloni’s support for Ukraine and her willingness to be a Western partner; however, that should not take away from what is occurring domestically in Italy.
Meloni’s administration has spent its first months in office accusing minorities of undermining god, the nation, and family, which has had real consequences for migrants, nongovernmental organizations, and same-sex parents.
Meloni has also made efforts to weaken anti-torture legislation and has filled the public broadcaster media with loyalists.
She has moderated the way she speaks since becoming Prime Minister. In official settings, she appears considered and cautious.
She is able to rely on colleagues in her Brothers of Italy party to be more open about their feelings.
L.G.B.T.Q. parents have been one of Meloni’s main targets, party leaders have even called surrogate parenting a “crime worse than pedophilia,” and that gay people are “passing off” foreign kids as their own.
Meloni pretends that she is against such extremism; yet the government extended a ban on surrogacy to criminalize adoptions in other countries and ordered municipalities to stop registering same-sex parents altogether, which leaves children in legal limbo.
An aggressive opposition to migration has sadly been the centerpiece of Meloni’s administration.
Meloni has also used the “ethnic replacement” theory to successfully oppose a 2017 bill that would have granted citizenship to children born in Italy to noncitizen parents.
She has been reluctant to use the term since she took office; however, she calls for “births, not migrants,” which expresses a similar anti-immigrant sentiment.
Recently, Meloni led a European Union deal with Tunisia to curb migration in exchange for financial support. Tunisia has an authoritarian regime that promotes the great replacement conspiracy theory.
Past administrations had a similar relationship with Libya, and due to Italian pressure, a new European Union migration pact strengthens the right of member states to expel asylum seekers.
In June 2023, the Italian authorities impounded two migrant rescue ships that were accused of evading a new law designed to limit their activities.
New legislation was also passed in February 2023 that forbids ships organized by NGOs from conducting rescues for migrants, which is not ideal given there have been many cases of Italian authorities failing to respond to distress calls.
Over 2000 migrants die drowning every year attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
Journalists are also under pressure in Meloni’s Italy. Sitting ministers have threatened and pursued libel suits against members of the Italian press, which appeared to be an intimidation strategy against Meloni’s critics.
Meloni has even referred to Italy’s postwar antifascist culture as a repressive ideology that was responsible for the murder of right-wing militants in the political violence that occurred in the 1970s.
Although Meloni’s party has Mussolinian roots, this government is no return to the past. Rather, it may become something else entirely with its new focus on identity politics.
This trend toward right-wing extremism is occurring in many countries, including the United States, and it is unclear if the trend will persist.