Italy’s far-right leader Giorgia Meloni visits EU: ‘We are not Martians’
- The premier used her trip to Brussels to declare that her country would be a force to reckon with in the bloc’s affairs
- Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party has neo-fascist roots, and many EU officials are concerned about the implications of her rise
New far-right Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni used her first visit to European Union headquarters in Brussels on Thursday to declare that Italy will be a force to reckon with in EU affairs, leaving it unclear whether that was a promise or a threat from one of the bloc’s powerful founding members.
Her first foreign trip after brokering Italy’s only far-right-led government since World War II was not the ordinary kind of visit by a new leader of a major EU nation seeking to renew unshakeable bonds with the 27-nation bloc.
For some, it brought the far right into the walls of the EU just as the bloc faces crises on many fronts.
Meloni emerged energised from the meetings with the EU’s most powerful officials: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the European Council president who chairs all EU summits.
Meloni said she had found her counterparts receptive and described the talks as “frank and very positive”.
