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Agence France-Presse

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni was named Italian prime minister Friday, becoming the first woman to head a government in Italy.
Her post-fascist Brothers of Italy party – Eurosceptic and anti-immigration – won September 25 legislative polls but needs outside support to form a government.
Meloni’s appointment is a historic event for the euro zone’s third largest economy and for Brothers of Italy, which has never been in government.
The 45-year-old from Rome will now name her ministers who will be sworn in on Saturday in front of President Sergio Mattarella.
Italy’s prospective PM Meloni poised to shake up ties with China
Soon after she was named, Meloni appointed Giancarlo Giorgetti as economy minister, who served under the previous government of Mario Draghi.
Giorgetti, a former minister of economic development, is considered one of the more moderate, pro-Europe members of Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party.
Her Brothers of Italy party won 26 per cent of the vote last month, compared to eight and nine per cent respectively for her allies Forza Italia and the far-right League.
The consultations to cobble a government had been overshadowed by disagreements over Meloni’s ardent support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion, with her two would-be coalition partners who are both considered close to Moscow.

A recording was leaked during the week in which Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – who heads Forza Italia – talks about his warm ties with Moscow and appeared to blame the war in Ukraine on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Her other coalition partner, Salvini, is a long-time fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has criticised Western sanctions on Russia.
Despite her Eurosceptic stance, Meloni has been firm about her support for Ukraine, in line with the rest of the European Union and the United States.
“I intend to lead a government with a clear and unequivocal foreign policy line,” she has said. “Italy is fully, and with its head held high, part of Europe and the Atlantic Alliance.”
Italy’s Berlusconi says he exchanged ‘sweet letters’ with Putin
“Anyone who does not agree with this cornerstone will not be able to be part of the government, even at the cost of not forming a government,” Meloni has warned.
Berlusconi, 86, has said that his personal and political position “do not deviate from that of the Italian government [and] the European Union” on Ukraine. But the tensions add to concerns that Meloni’s coalition, held together by the need for a parliamentary majority, will struggle to maintain unity.
Berlusconi’s allies insist his comments in the recording, from a meeting with lawmakers earlier this week, were taken out of context.
The billionaire media mogul described a rekindling of relations with long-time friend Putin, who he said sent him 20 bottles of vodka and a “very sweet letter” for his birthday.

Meloni’s coalition wants to renegotiate Italy’s part of the EU’s post-Covid recovery fund, arguing the almost €200 billion (US$193 billion) it expects to receive should take into account the current energy crisis, exacerbated by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine which has hit the supplies of Russian gas to Europe.
But the funds are tied to a series of reforms only just begun by Draghi, and analysts say she has limited room for manoeuvre.
Meloni had campaigned on a platform of “God, country and family”, sparking fears of a regression on rights in the Catholic-majority country.
She has distanced herself from her party’s neo-fascist past – and her own, after praising dictator Benito Mussolini as a teenager – and presented herself as a straight-talking but unthreatening leader.
Italy’s LGBTQ community has ‘very real fears’ after far-right victory
Inflation in Italy rose to 8.9 per cent in September over the previous year threatening to put the country in recession next year.
The margin for manoeuvre is limited given that its colossal debt represents 150 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, the highest in the euro zone after Greece.
Draghi used his last day on the European stage Friday to warn both his fellow leaders and Meloni that a united Europe should remain their “guiding star”.
Draghi said everyone looked at “the EU as a source of security, stability and peace,” adding: “We have to keep this in mind as a guiding star for the future, especially in troubled times like these.”


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Italy

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni named Italy’s first woman prime minister

Italian PM-designate Giorgia Meloni addresses the media at the Quirinale Palace in Rome on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini hug as they address a rally in Rome in October 2019. Photo: AP

Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi (left) listens to Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni talking to journalists at the Quirinale Presidential Palace in Rome on Friday. Photo: AP

Italy’s Berlusconi says he exchanged ‘sweet letters’ with Putin

Silvio Berlusconi. Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi in 2019. File photo: Reuters 

Italy police seize assets from architect linked to ‘Putin’s palace’

The lavish Black Sea property dubbed ‘Putin’s palace’ by opponents of the Russian president. Photo: Alexei Navalny via YouTube

Italy’s tax police said it had seized assets from a ‘well-known professional’. Photo: Guardia di Finanza

UK’s Penny Mordaunt first to enter race for PM as Boris Johnson eyes comeback

British MP Penny Mordaunt is the first to announce her intention to be the next Conservative leader and Prime Minister, in London. Photo: Reuters

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World

Europe

Her anti-immigration Brothers of Italy party won the September polls but needs outside support to form a government
But coalition talks have been overshadowed by disagreements over Meloni’s support for Ukraine, with her two would-be partners both considered close to Moscow


Her anti-immigration Brothers of Italy party won the September polls but needs outside support to form a government.


Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni named Italy’s first woman prime minister

Her anti-immigration Brothers of Italy party won the September polls but needs outside support to form a government But coalition talks have been overshadowed by disagreements over Meloni’s support for Ukraine, with her two would-be partners both considered close to Moscow

Her anti-immigration Brothers of Italy party won the September polls but needs outside support to form a government

But coalition talks have been overshadowed by disagreements over Meloni’s support for Ukraine, with her two would-be partners both considered close to Moscow