On September 26, 2022 Georgia Meloni became Italy’s prime minister. So far she has broken ground for being Italy’s first female prime minister, but also, she represents and frequently espouses views from the far right. In fact some have even called her a neo-facsist because her rhetoric is anti-immigrant, strong nationalist, and highly conservative in nature. Her political party, Brothers of Italy, has ties to political groups formed in Italy dating back to WWII.

People are concerned about her election because the last time Italy was under the leadership of a politician with such extremist views was under Benito Mussolini who went on to be a facist dictator. Some of her positions could be considered alarming to more moderate citizens of Italy. For example, she defends Mussolini as a “complex personality” rather than condemning his actions. Whenever she speaks at the party’s headquarters, a fascist symbol is always in plain view. However, she does appear to be making efforts to moderate some of her party members’ extreme behaviors–she’s asking them to refrain from the Roman salute, which represents the Nazi salute and asking them to stop making extreme statements.

Currently, Italy may be susceptible to falling to the charms of an extreme right politician. Within the European Union, Italy does not enjoy Germany’s economic strength or France’s global political stature. In addition, over the last decade many immigrants from Northern Africa and the Middle East have landed on Italy’s shores, much to the irritation of overwhelmed Italians who are frustrated that the immigrants take a heavy toll on Italy’s infrastructure. The combination of these factors made a ripe environment for a politician such as Giorgia Meloni, who makes bold statements projecting a brighter future for Italy under her leadership.

Now, people fear that she might be racist, reject immigrants inbound seeking asylum, some even fear that her nationalist views might result in Italy leaving the European Union. More progressive Italians are concerned she could turn backward against gay rights. The business community is concerned that she will lose control of Italy’s already high debt which will imperil their ability to conduct business in the global markets.

Looking at the history of Italian politics, governments in Italy tend to be short because they rely on overstretched coalitions of different parties. Since the end of WWII, Italy has had nearly 70 governments, with the average government lasting only 13 months before losing power, making it difficult for Meloni to impose her strong beliefs into actual policies.