Mario Draghi’s fall and the death of Italian left-wing populism

So, another unelected Italian government is collapsing, and the putatively pro-democratic media are all calling it a ‘dark day.’ In many ways, it is. Mario Draghi’s resignation (his second in the space of a week and this time for real) is bad news for Brussels and the Eurozone. The war in Ukraine was the catalyst for Draghi’s fall as it tore apart Italy’s left-wing populist party, the Five Star Movement. That, in turn, destabilised Italy’s government. The Russian media will be ecstatic: first Boris, now this.

But it is a great day for Italy’s leading right-wing populist party – the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) – which is now in a very powerful position. Fratelli d’Italia continues to top the opinion polls and its leader Giorgia Meloni looks set to become Italy’s next prime minister. It’s an astonishing change of fortunes for a party that received just 4 per cent of the vote in 2018.