On Sept. 25, Italy held elections to decide the new political makeup of its parliament. The Brothers of Italy, the most far-right party in Italy and leader of the conservative coalition, won the largest share of votes at 26%. As a result, it is extremely likely that the most important member of the party, Giorgia Meloni, will be the first female Prime Minister of Italy. 

While the contemporary version of dominating far-right politics might be new for Italy, it is not new to the rest of Europe. Giorgia Meloni and The Brothers of Italy aren’t innovators from a political perspective, but have instead paid attention to European politics and rhetoric and are now reaping the benefits of its implementation. As a result, many of the liberal values the EU supposedly upholds are being threatened yet again. 

The Brothers of Italy have a complicated history. The party was formed as a successor to the National Alliance, a party that is known to have risen from the ashes of Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party. This connection to Mussolini and the party’s success, in general, is a decades-long culmination of fascist sentiments that have not been reckoned with. 

The end of fascism in Germany compared to that of Italy represents sharp contrasts that can help to explain Italy today. While the effectiveness of denazification in Germany is up to debate, there was a formal process on behalf of the four occupying powers (the U.S., France, Britain, and the Soviet Union) that implemented measures to prevent nazi sympathizers from having power. 

When looking at the history of Italy, these formal processes didn’t really exist. With the Cold War starting to formulate, western powers couldn’t find any incentives in suppressing the conservative, and former fascist, politicians from preventing the rise of communism. As a result, Italians were able to build up their own narrative about their past, which brings us to today.  

Giorgia Meloni at times likes to understandably underscore her admiration for Mussolini, but this does not erase her past statements on the creator of fascism. In her youth, as a member of the National Alliance (MSI) and before the formation of the Brothers of Italy, she stated during an interview that Mussolini was “a good politician” and that “[e]verything he did, he did for Italy”. 

These opinions on Mussolini are not unique either, but rather aligned with the views that many of her constituencies hold. Barbara Serra exposes the fascist roots that still exist in Italy, especially in Mussolini’s hometown of Predappio, where shops selling Nazi memorabilia are only a couple of blocks down from the former dictator’s grave. At the grave itself, flowers and personal notes can be seen adorning the elaborate display of commemoration. 

The policy stances Meloni holds are extreme as well. When it comes to immigration, Italy has one of the highest rates in the EU and, as a result, immigration is one of the hottest topics on the right. Meloni has repeatedly expressed her desire to block rescue vessels helping north African migrants from docking in Italy. This could legitimize immoral decisions like the one made by the Italian Navy in 2013—when over 250 Syrian refugees drowned as a result of the Navy’s incompetence.

Meloni’s stance on minority rights is also problematic. Her party’s platform is extremely vocal about protecting the “traditional family” which at times often means attacking the LGBTQ+ community and abortion rights. The fact that her party’s culture spokesman stated that gay couples “are not legal” has frightened people even more in a country that still has no laws in place protecting same-sex marriage. 

Meloni’s form of populism isn’t too different from European trends of the past years. For example in Sweden, a right-wing populist party that has ties to the neo-nazi movement has in the past month won the second most seats in parliament with 20.5% of the vote. Poland’s Law and Justice Party—the largest party in their parliament—as well as Spain’s Vox party, are also other far-right movements that have made considerable gains in recent times. 

Other leaders like Viktor Orban of Hungary—someone Meloni has expressed affection for—have been chipping away at democratic institutions and setting examples for those with authoritarian tendencies. 

All in all, Giorgia Meloni is representative of a larger picture rather than the creator of one. Her rise to power is just another drop in the bucket when it comes to the hard-right, populist shift in European politics. Whether it’s Britain’s Liz Truss, or Le Pen’s near election earlier in the year, some of the largest economies in Europe are experiencing this as well. It’s important to remember that Italy is the EU’s third-largest economy. 

This trend in its entirety represents what could be the start of a shift in the EU’s classical liberal values. Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union includes “equality” and the protection of rights “belonging to minorities” as some of its founding values, yet Giorgia Meloni and other political figures in Europe are starting to bring the legitimacy of this treaty into question. 

The most overt example can be found in the ways right-wing EU member countries have treated refugees over the years. Another prominent example lies in Viktor Orban’s persecution of the LGBTQ+ community. 

While it’s easy to focus on political leaders as the perpetrators of agendas that seek to define and attack groups of people, it must not be forgotten that all of these leaders were democratically elected. Something is going on within the minds of large groups of people in Europe that is allowing for these anti-democratic motivations to manifest through democratic means. 

In political science, the nation-state is composed of two things, the nation and the state. The state is the government and borders that we typically first associate with a country, but the nation is just as important. 

The nation is the shared identity and values that a population holds, and what we are starting to see in many European countries is that the conception of a given national identity is up for debate. The same questions on both sides of the political spectrum are being asked in regard to identity, yet both sides of the political spectrum find themselves with completely different answers. 

Take Meloni’s conception of the “traditional family” as mentioned earlier. Italians who identify with her politics view being an Italian as conforming to those “traditional family” values. On the other side of the political spectrum, Italians on the left would most likely view being an Italian as being accepting of marriage no matter what it looks like. 

This idea of the nation is important in regard to populism, because we are starting to see politicians exploit these sentiments for political power. This formula has proven successful, and many of these politicians are trying to cement their conception of the nation through policy decisions. 

Democracy is dependent on people having a tolerance for disagreement. Yet Giorgia Meloni makes us ask the same question yet again. When that tolerance no longer exists, what happens to the people who disagree and their rights?