Italy seems also set to have a new government under the leadership of Giorgia Meloni. Meloni, along with the right-way allies, submitted a formal request to the President on Friday to give her coalition the necessary mandate to finally form the first far-right-led government since the end of World War II.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and its allies emerged as the leaders in the Italian elections and all the important members of the coalition met President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal presidential palace.
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“We have indicated myself as the person who should be mandated to form the new government,” Meloni said. “We are ready, and we want to move forward in the shortest possible time.”
Meloni has two main allies in the new government – Matteo Salvini and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. While both have supported Meloni’s claim to form the government, tensions have been silently brewing in the coalition because of the views they hold regarding the Ukraine crisis.
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While Meloni has made it clear that Italy will follow the stance taken by most western countries, Berlusconi and Salvini are admirers of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Berlusconi has publicly supported Russia in the ongoing crisis and even boasted about his relationship with Putin.
The new government will also face the daunting challenge of managing the third-largest economy in Europe which is currently suffering from rising energy costs and the impacts of the Ukraine war. While the numbers are in Meloni’s favour, the government has also taken a long time to take shape.
