Prime Minister, chairman of the coalition Petteri Orpo (kok) raised many eyebrows when he characterized the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melonia cooperative and pro-European. In addition to this, according to Orpo, Meloni is involved in the front to help Ukraine against Russia.
In addition, the Prime Minister of Finland estimates that Meloni’s neo-fascist background is not acceptable, but what he has shown with his actions is acceptable.
The statement is startling and should be analyzed in more detail.
Let’s start with the background of Italy’s sitting prime minister, where Orpokin sees problems.
Giorgia Meloni started her political activities at the age of 15, when she joined the youth department of the Italian social movement MSI. This is not just any political youth section, because MSI was founded after the Second World War Benito Mussolini to the ruins of the fascist party he led.
MSI no longer functions as an official party, but its supporters gather annually for various events. One of them raised a violent commotion last January, when, according to the Italian police, about a hundred participants made the Nazi salute there. Some of them are members of Fratelli d’Italia, the Italian prime minister’s party led by Meloni.
Meloni founded the Fratelli d’Italia party with MSI on the same neo-fascist basis and, among other things, the party’s logo still has the flame symbol of the neo-fascists. Also Speaker of the Italian Senate Ignazio La Russa has been a member of MSI and he has publicly said that he admires Benito Mussolini.
Giorgia Meloni became the Prime Minister of Italy in the fall of 2022. Political scientists describe her government as Italy’s as the most right-wing and value-conservative then Benito Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship. Meloni and his government are described as both radical right-wing and extreme right-wing, and Meloni has not disputed either definition.
Instead, he has tried to hide his neo-fascist background and his earlier praise of Mussolini.
Ukraine support only in speeches
So what kind of prime minister and EU decision-maker Giorgia Meloni has been?
When Petteri Orpo describes that he is involved in helping Ukraine, it is true at the level of words. However, concrete support is non-existent.
According to the Kiel Institute, which compiles statistics on support for Ukraine from different countries, Italy has supported Ukraine bilaterally with an amount that corresponds to 0.09 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Italy’s share of the EU’s aid to Ukraine corresponds to 0.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
The Meloni government’s official explanation on the matter has been heard by the foreign minister Antonio Tajani and the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetton in the mouth: Italy needs its own weapons and the country’s economic situation does not allow support.
A return to Mussolini’s time?
Melon’s board also has several projects underway that should ring alarm bells in Finland as well.
The most worrisome of them, according to experts, is the constitutional amendment, which would narrow the extensive powers of the Italian president and increase the power of the prime minister. The discussion here returns to Mussolini again.
The current Italian constitution was written right after the end of the Second World War and the fall of Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship. Its purpose was precisely to guarantee that a dictator like Mussolini could no longer rise to power in Italy.
From a European point of view, the president of Italy has exceptionally large powers. He can dissolve the parliament and therefore the government at any time and has the right to veto both ministerial appointments and government bills.
Meloni’s official explanation for the constitutional reform is that, with the proposed changes, Italian governments would sit for longer terms and politics would be more stable. Political scientists respond by pointing out that constitutional changes limit the Italian president’s ability to act as an institutional buffer against the impulses of populist politicians.
Journalists wrote to the commission
Two other questionable current projects are related to the rights of sexual minorities and the Italian public broadcasting company RAI. Researcher in populism at the University of Edinburgh Davide Vampa summed it up this week by stating that Meloni’s Italy is the only country in Southern Europe that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
RAI journalists have opposed Meloni’s plans with repeated strikes in recent weeks. Journalists are especially angered by the Italian Prime Minister’s demand that the representatives of the governing parties should have unlimited speaking time in the European election exams. Previously, Meloni prevented the publication of an anti-fascist comment with his personal intervention.
Italian Federation of Journalists wrote about it this week To the European Commission together with European journalistic organizations. They accuse Melon’s government of violating European laws governing freedom of the press and the transmission of information.
“The new Hungary of the EU”
Italian legal scholars have long warned against the Meloni government’s actions.
The harshest words have been used by the former president of the Italian Constitutional Court and ex-prime minister Giuliano Amato has warned that the country is turning into “the EU’s new Hungary”.
He already compares Giorgia Meloni’s Italy directly Viktor Orbánin To Hungary and, until last fall, to Poland, which was ruled by the far right. Both have had problems, especially with respect to the EU’s rule of law.
Amato also reminds that Meloni, described by Petteri Orpo as pro-European, is the only prime minister of a euro country who has not accepted the reform of the European Stability Mechanism. Italy overthrew the whole reform with its extraordinary vision.
Italian political consultancy Policy Sonarin analyst Francesco Galietti says that Meloni has quite successfully created a public image for himself as a Western leader. However, Galietti points out at the same time that the change is only on the surface.
“It has brought him good results so far, but Meloni has never forgotten his political roots.”
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen this week described Giorgia Meloni with the same words as Orpo. The coalition’s European Parliament group EPP is also considering cooperation with Melon after the elections.
Italian political scientist, professor at the University of Surrey Daniele Albertazzi considers this a big win for Melon. According to him, the Italian Prime Minister has been preparing for such a turn for years.
“And then Meloni woke up one morning and found that he had magically become a European mainstream. He has been preparing the ground for this for two years. Everything is very obvious, everything has happened very openly,” Albertazzi wrote on the messaging service X after von der Leyen’s comment.
Francesco Galietti also recalls Meloni’s close relationship with Viktor Orbán and describes their political lines as basically very similar. Both promote, among other things, traditional family values and are critical of both the EU and immigration, although Meloni has quite successfully covered this up after becoming Prime Minister of Italy.
Petteri Orpo’s statement looks especially in this point in a very strange light, as he categorically rules out cooperation with Orbán’s Fidesz party.