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U.S. Casts Nervous Eye on New Italian Leader


Giorgia Meloni, 45, insists she’s finished with fascism.


BY JOHN GIZZI


far-right party whose roots go back to World War II’s neo-fascist move- ment.” . . . “Italy’s most far-right government since Mussolini.”


This was the reaction of the mainstream media follow-


ing national elections in Italy on Sept. 25, and the triumph of the new Brothers of Italy Party and its charismatic leader Giorgia Meloni. To hear these post-mortems,


the victory of Meloni’s Brothers and two other right-of-center par- ties was akin to Benito Mussolini’s March on Rome a century ago. That march, of course, led to the


gutting of Italian democracy and a dictatorship culminating in Mus- solini’s alliance with Adolf Hitler and disastrous defeat in World War II. To say that Meloni will repeat


that dark part of Italy’s history once she forms a government and becomes prime minister at age 45 is, as Italians might say, “bologna.” But her policies could cast a shadow over relations with


MELONI


the U.S. on the Ukraine war and on the issue of a global minimum tax on multinational companies. Meloni, a single mother who never went to college, a


one-time waitress, bartender, and nanny, was elected to parliament in 2006 and became minister of youth at 29 — the youngest cabinet minister in Italian history. With a passion for politics, the young Meloni helped


recruit volunteers for the Italian Social Movement — the predecessor party to the Brothers and a direct descendant of Mussolini’s Fascists. A profile on French TV showed Meloni voicing admira-


tion for Mussolini and saying, “Everything he did, he did for Italy.”


However, she has long repudiated those views and


called on those who share them to “offer fascism up to history.” In fact, the platforms of Meloni’s Brothers and its likely partner in government — the Northern League headed by


12 NEWSMAX | NOVEMBER 2022


hard-line former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini — con- tain strongly pro-Israel planks. “Giorgia Meloni is to Il Duce as the English prime


minister is to the privateers of the 1700s,” Mario Gualco, president of Italy’s National Confederation of Crafts and Small and Medium Enterprises, told Newsmax. “Histori- cal eras have scenarios so different that they can neither be compared nor repeated.” A better characterization of Meloni might be made


to the late Jack Kemp, former New York congressman, secretary of housing and urban development, and 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee. Kemp was always speaking of


lowering tax rates as a vehicle for improving opportunities for the lower and middle classes. Meloni is expected to pursue


lower taxes and extend Italy’s 15% flat tax to 2 million work- ers who earn between 65,000 and 100,000 euros per year. On illegal immigration, Mel-


oni would be closer to Donald Trump or Pat Buchanan than Kemp. She wants illegals to be vetted


for a criminal past or ties to ter- rorism before being permitted to cross Italian borders.


Meloni insists she supports U.S.-led sanctions on


Russia over its war with Ukraine. However, this position may be tested if her coalition government includes Salvini and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Both are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meloni’s views on the European Union are closer to


those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán than they are to most European leaders. A Meloni government would almost certainly have


joined with Orban’s in vetoing the 15% global minimum tax on large multinationals favored by President Joe Biden and the rest of the EU member nations. Meloni’s social conservatism reflects contemporary conservative Republicans in the U.S. She opposes abortion, euthanasia, and, in the only


Western European nation that doesn’t recognize same- sex marriage, feels gay couples should be satisfied with civil unions.


PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES


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