This 2024 Italy was the host of the G7 annual summit. A select, Western and democratic group that aims to be on the right side of history. The president of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, who is in her best political momentreceived its peers from the tourist vanguard in the Apulia region, the country’s main producer of olive oil and, for more information, one of the hot spots in the migratory crisis in the Mediterranean, under permanent threat from mafia groups.
If the three-day informal forum made anything clear about the current international context, it is the outstanding leadership of Meloni. The president took office in 2022 and He achieved something his country lacked: political stability. His far-right party “Fratelli d’Italia” (Brothers of Italy), which has roots in post-war fascism, managed to surpass itself in the European elections with 28 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, the main center-left opposition party, the Democratic Party, obtained 24.5 percent. Is Giorgia today the reliable reference of the European right?
“I am proud that we are heading to the G7 and Europe with the strongest Government of all,” she already expressed after those figures. Taking into account the electoral numbers of his peers, the French Emmanuel Macron and the German Olaf Scholtz, Meloni is at his zenith: Not only is it consolidating its internal leadership, but, even better, it is beginning to strengthen its figure and strengthen its decisive role in Europe. The Italian has surprised European centrist leaders by her pragmatism, projecting the image of a person with whom you can work.
In this attempt to reinforce and elevate his leadership, Meloni needs to be antagonistic to any leader within the European environment. with which to differentiate. It was very easy for him to find that figure: Macron. Images of Wednesday’s dinner at the Castello Svevo di Bari immediately spread, where the prime minister responded with a dry greeting and a cutting look at the president of France. Seconds before, her French partner had spoken affectionately to Italian President Sergio Mattarella and his daughter, which made the tension between the two more evident.
Since 2021, when Angela Merkel left power in Germany, Macron has been working hard to lead the European Union train. But Meloni’s appearance on the political scene, with a leadership that no one expected, complicates his aspirations, with the aggravating factor of a sea of ideological differences, which did not happen with Merkel. The Italian appeared, not only to dispute Macron’s new governance of the European Union, but also to question his ideas.
The balance at this moment is tilted towards Meloni. After the tough defeat against the local far-right, the French president called early legislative elections for the end of June, although he will continue in power until 2027, when the presidential elections will take place. The Italian president anxiously hopes that the extreme right of Marine Le Pen will enter Macron’s government and further weaken it during the three years that remain in his government.
The icing on the cake that closed the meeting came with Meloni’s achievement of not including the right to abortion in the final declaration of the G7 summit.. The host’s proposal prevailed, despite the resistance of the United States, France, Canada and the European Union. This is a central issue for Macron. Last April, after attempted setbacks in the United States and Argentina, the president decided to protect the right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy in all circumstances, which is why he left it embodied in the Constitution, making it irrevocable.
The truth is The Italian leader is in an excellent moment in which none of the other G7 leaders are. He British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak He will probably have to hand over the leadership to Labor after the July 4 elections. The German coalition Olaf Scholzin addition to the defeat in the European elections, is in an internal struggle over the next federal budget.
While, Joe Biden In the electoral campaign, he is ensuring the defense of Ukraine, in case Donald Trump wins the presidential election. Until the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, could lose his position in September due to internal conflicts in his Liberal Democratic Party. And after eight years in power, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeaualso seems to have lost its charm for Canadians.
Among the special guests, chosen by the Italian president for this edition of the summit, were several actors of current relevance. Meloni has achieved the attendance of Pope Francis, being the first time that the highest figure of the Catholic Church attends these summits. Bergoglio was the protagonist of the second day of the meeting and has had – by express request – ten bilateral meetings with leaders; although not with Javier Mileiwith whom he only had a brief and cold greeting.
The Argentine president, a new icon of the global far-right, was another of those chosen by Meloni. The welcome and exchange between the two was particularly warm: “You had an incredible journey to be here,” the minister expressed. Then they exchanged a series of jokes between hugs and inaudible jokes. Shortly after the summit ended, the president Italianized the phrase of her colleague: “Long live freedom!” She wrote on the social network X.
There was also very good harmony with his Indian guestthe recent re-elected for a third term, Narendra Modi. The Italian shared a selfie video amidst laughter with the leader of the world’s largest democracy: “Hello from the Melodi team”. In this way, she revalidated the viral “Melodi”, the union of the Meloni-Modi surnames, a formula that Americans use a lot to refer to famous couples. The Italian thus confirmed the good harmony with Modi.
All this, and several other factors, come together in favor of the projection of Giorgia’s leadership. Her latest electoral success, added to the rise of the global extreme right and her great personal charisma, are part of a one hundred percent positive equation that she has known how to capitalize on. And now, on top of that, you can add the success of the G7 summit. Without a doubt, today in Europe the strongest government of all is Italian.
