Giorgia Meloni’s victory would be a triumph for Italian democracy

As Italians prepare to vote in today’s general election, the European Union has issued a warning – making clear that it stands ready to act.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, is widely expected to become prime minister at the head of a right-wing coalition. At an event in Princeton University, Ursula Von der Leyen, the EU president, said she is watching. ‘If things go in a difficult direction, I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools,’ she said.

So the unelected Ms Von der Leyen is talking about what she might do if confronted by Meloni being elected and getting ‘difficult’. The ‘tools’ she refers to are those used to withhold funds from Hungary and Poland for alleged violations of what the European Court of Justice has termed the EU’s ‘common values such as the rule of law and solidarity’, mainly in respect of the judiciary and media.