Is Giorgia Meloni a secret centrist?

When it became clear in September 2022 that Giorgia’s Meloni right-wing coalition was on course to win Italy’s general election, Ursula von der Leyen issued a warning. ‘If things go in a difficult direction,’ declared the president of the European Commission, ‘…we have tools’.

Matteo Salvini, whose Liga party was a member of the coalition, denounced von der Leyen’s threat as ‘shameful arrogance’.

The German’s fears have proved unfounded. Meloni’s government hasn’t gone in a ‘difficult direction’. On the contrary, Meloni seems to have moved gently to the centre, where von der Leyen resides. The two are often in each other’s company, touring flood-hit regions of Italy or visiting Lampedusa to see how the island is coping with the influx of migrants.

It is a mutually beneficial alliance. Italy is in line to receive €191 billion (£163 billion) from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), an initiative implemented in the wake of Covid-19.