Between ‘scanner’ and ‘head held high’, Meloni’s second year at Palazzo Chigi

“At work, without stopping, without fear”. Giorgia Meloni shows a smile on social media to which she entrusts a message two years after her second year in government. Twenty-four months at Palazzo Chigi in which the ‘underdog’ of Italian politics (‘copyright’ of Meloni herself) repeatedly reiterates that he is ‘not blackmailable’, and with his ‘vote Giorgia’ he wins at the European Championships, dragging Fratelli d’ Italy to a clear victory.

And in the days when tension is at its highest between Palazzo Chigi and the judiciary after the decision of the Court of Rome not to detain migrants in the center in Albania, the prime minister – with a post this morning, again on X – assures that “as long as we have the support of the citizens, we will continue to work with determination, with our heads held high, to achieve our program.” A program – from the fight against irregular immigration, to reforms (justice, autonomy, premiership) to economic and international dossiers – which proceeds but not without obstacles. For the Prime Minister there is, in fact, the ‘wall’ of compact oppositions, for example against differentiated autonomy and the premiership.

Then there is the work of filing and mediation, sometimes a real closing of ranks, to bring together the positions of the allies of Forza Italia and Lega on some issues such as, for example, the tax on banks’ extra profits or on citizenship . And moreover, that “here I am, I have reappeared, all the units have been recalled, I am at Palazzo Chigi”, the attitude with which the prime minister had announced, after the end of the summer holidays, her return to the government’s dossiers, already made it the idea of ​​the approach of a ‘warm autumn’.

And already the end of summer brought a new Minister of Culture – Alessandro Giuli – after the resignation of Gennaro Sangiuliano, overwhelmed by the revelations of the entrepreneur and aspiring consultant to MiC Maria Rosaria Boccia.
Now there is, however, the issue of the nomination of Raffaele Fitto in the new European Commission, on which the Prime Minister – speaking to the Chambers – called for national unity, but with the no’s from Schlein and Conte. Then the election of the missing judges of the Constitutional Court and the match on Rai appointments. All this while the ‘Albania case’ explodes, rekindling a harsh confrontation between politics and the judiciary. All in a context in which the prime minister claims Italy’s ambition to become a ‘model’ in Europe in the fight against irregular immigration thanks to agreements (in the wake of the one between Rome and Tirana) also with non-EU countries. And with the Mattei Plan, a new partnership between Italy and Africa, marking the course.

Meanwhile, Meloni reiterates that he wants to complete the program with which he won the 2022 elections: reforms and policies to support families and businesses. Now that differentiated autonomy is law (however the issue of the Lep still needs to be untangled) forward with the premiership (currently halfway through with the first yes in the Senate), the “mother of all reforms” as call the executive.

With the crime of abuse of office abolished (Parliament’s green light for the Nordio bill is definitive), the reform on the separation of careers is based on the Commissions in the Chamber.

Over the last year, the Prime Minister’s international agenda has been dense with Italy having assumed the presidency of the G7 since January 1st with the eyes of the world focused on the Borgo Egnazia Summit last June. The support for Ukraine to achieve a “just peace”, the constant commitment to the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the request for the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas and the two-state solution: these are the directives on which the prime minister’s international activity is based on.

Giorgia Meloni’s second year in government saw numerous missions abroad, in a scenario marked by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East but also recurring electoral campaigns in Italy. In addition to the European elections in June, there were four calls to the polls for the regional elections in the space of just five months – in Sardinia, Abruzzo, Basilicata, and Piedmont – with a favorable outcome claimed by the centre-right. But a year also hammered by the natural disasters that hit Italy with the second flood in Romagna (September) and the recent devastation of Bologna under water.
But the prime minister also found herself commenting on judicial investigations in this second year of government. The latest, that of the Bari Prosecutor’s Office on illegal access to current accounts by a bank employee. “I am the most documented person in Italy. In the drama there is good news: my life was actually put under the scanner and nothing was found”, claimed the prime minister.
Nine months earlier, in the press conference at the end, or rather, at the beginning of the year, the concept had been similar: “I think that someone in this nation thought they could deal the cards, but in a normal state there are no conditions, the I have seen it happen and I won’t say more. There are those who think they can direct the choices, but it doesn’t work with me, I am the prime minister and I make them, I take responsibility for them”, the Prime Minister said.
A recurring theme, which animates the debate in the center-right itself. There are those who, among the same intellectuals of the area, such as Marcello Veneziani, instead urge the government to equip itself with a more impenetrable ‘shield’ against the (fateful) ‘strong powers’, essentially accusing it of excessive compliance. “There are probably pressure groups who don’t accept having in the government someone who won’t be pressured, who can’t be blackmailed. And then, perhaps – says Meloni instead – they try to get him out of the way with other tools. I fear that they won’t they will succeed.”