What will the Meloni government be like?
What is said and whispered in Fratelli d'Italia, Lega and Forza Italia about the next Meloni government. Paola Sacchi's note
Giorgia Meloni, now in fact a candidate for prime minister in pectore, takes a break. He just makes a post on social media to reaffirm his commitment to "revive Italy" and "not to disappoint the Italians". The two group leaders of the Chamber and Senate, Francesco Lollobrigida and Luca Ciriani, make a press conference with "round" statements against allies Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini who had "warm words" for the president of FdI.
But, in reality, the debate on the future center-right government, "led by the Brothers of Italy, the first executive, after so many years clearly indicated by the Italians", as Salvini says, which ensures a duration of "at least 5 years", is now the real background topic. The behind-the-scenes debate is in full swing.
The allies FI and Lega, with respect to which FdI is in clear advantage, even if they are not the dominus of the executive with the 30 per cent that many expected, with theirs, respectively about 8 and 9 per cent, are indispensable for governing. Even from statements and press conferences one could deduce the requests and preferences of Berlusconi and Salvini for the boxes of the future executive. Rumors of Transatlantico register blue requests for the Foreign Ministry, while the League would always be focused on the Ministry of the Interior where not the same leader of the League could go but a member of strict confidence.
For the Farnesina there are those in the blue line who would see well the coordinator and vice president of FI Antonio Tajani. Even if the interested party denies it. Meanwhile, Berlusconi puts foreign policy at the center of his first outing to comment on the elections. In which he reiterates that FI is the "pro-European and Atlanticist guarantor" of the next government. Says the Cav in a video: "Our result shows that Forza Italia exists and is rooted in the hearts of Italians and has also confirmed that it is decisive for a center-right government, both from the point of view of numbers and from the point of view politic". He continues: “This commits us, as Italian members of the EPP, to guarantee the international, pro-European and Atlantic profile of the next government”.
There remain the distinctions in the center-right on the need to resort to a budget variance to cope with the emergency of expensive bills, a hypothesis that the president of Fdi has relegated to "last resort" in recent weeks. While the leader of the League was always in favor and the president of FI seemed to have a mediating position. Berlusconi heard on the phone with Meloni and Salvini, complimenting both of them. With the first because "she was very good not only in the electoral campaign but also for wearing an already institutional dress". To the second he acknowledged the merit "of having spent himself generously".
Berlusconi would not have hidden from various interlocutors that he expected an even better figure, but at the same time he acknowledged "the excellent electoral result of Forza Italia". "The strong growth of Fratelli d'Italia did not happen to our detriment and the attempt of the so-called centrists failed", underlines the Cav, referring to the "third pole" of Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renzi and underlining, in the clear "distinctions", the importance of dialogue with the opposition.
Salvini also observed that the Lega probably did not lose a lot of consensus in favor of FdI but in the area of abstention that had greatly grown. In addition to the Ministry of the Interior, the League could also remain the Ministry of Economic Development. But the debate on the future of the executive in a trace has only just begun.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/governo-meloni-come-sara/ on Tue, 27 Sep 2022 05:07:14 +0000.