Giorgia Meloni has won and will be the first woman Prime Minister of Italy. She will also be “the most far-right premier since Mussolini”, CNN said after the rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader won Sunday’s general election. This anticipated, though feared, result has elicited comments by major media around the world.
Spain’s El Pais daily said “the far right wins the elections in Italy for the first time, and the coalition of conservatives, post-Fascists and populists, led by Giorgia Meloni, got 44% in both the House and Senate”.
The Guardian said FdI “has neo-Fascist origins”. Russia’s Rossiya-24 said the elections could lead to a “political restructuring of Europe,” quoting Portuguese far right leader Andrè Ventura. France’s Le Monde said it was a “historic” victory for Meloni. Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat said Meloni was “an heir to Fascism”. Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet said it would be hard for the centre-right coalition to last more than two years due to internal tensions.
Meloni rejects the ‘post-Fascist’ label and says FdI has more in common with Britain’s Conservatives and the US Republicans. The FdI’s logo features the Tricolour Flame first used by the postwar neo-Fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) party, formed by members of Mussolini’s movement. Meloni says the Italian right has “handed Fascism over to history” and has condemned its suspension of democracy and the “ignominious” racial laws.
