One in four Italians who voted at last month’s election backed Giorgia Meloni’s conservative Brothers of Italy party – that is 7,302,517 men and women. Second in the general election was the centre-left Democratic party with 5,356,180 votes with 19 per cent. In other words, Meloni’s victory was resounding. Coming as it did after the brief premiership of the unelected Mario Draghi one might even call it a victory for democracy.
Yet the western reaction to Italy electing its first female prime minister was overwhelmingly cold and aloof. The Prime Minister of France, Elisabeth Borne, for example, promised to keep a close eye on Meloni to ensure she respected Italy’s human rights because ‘in Europe we carry a certain number of values’ which include ‘respect for each other’.
Emmanuel Macron was more discreet in his response, saying that he ‘respected’ the choice of the Italian people. On Sunday he became the first head of state to congratulate Meloni in person.
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