European vote could tip the balance on Meloni's far-right agenda in Italy
While Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni adopts a reassuring Western-allied foreign policy, cultural wars at home are preserving her far-right credentials heading into European Parliamentary elections
MILAN (AP) — While Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni adopts a reassuring Western-allied foreign policy, cultural wars at home are preserving her far-right credentials heading into a European Parliamentary election, where her neo-fascist-rooted Brothers of Italy party is projected to secure significant gains — and a possible coalition role.
In less than two years leading the EU’s third-largest economy, Meloni has emerged as the most powerful far-right-wing leader in Europe, a position emphasized in a fiery speech in May to a Vox rally in Spain that included French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Hungary's Viktor Orbán and pro-Trump Republicans.
Still, her pro-Ukraine and Israel policies have proven reassuring to centrist American and European allies as Italy prepares to host United States President Joe Biden and other leaders of the Group of Seven most industrialized nations in late June.
The European elections June 6-9 could begin to tip Meloni’s balancing act.
