Islamic Culture Not Compatible with European Values: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Dec 18, 2023 | Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni may have just touched a raw nerve with a loaded comment about Islam at a far-right gathering in her country. According to various media reports, Meloni's potentially explosive observation came at a political event held by the far-right Brothers of Italy in Rome, where she reportedly said that "there is no place for Islamic culture in Europe".

Giorgia Meloni is absolutely right about this. Islamic values and European values are totally and utterly immiscible. If we allow Islam to keep on growing in Europe, we are going to be in deep, deep trouble. Kudos, Signora Meloni, for having the courage to speak the truth. Few politicians have that courage. – © Mark Alexander

Sunak Accused of Toxic Rhetoric after Warning of ‘Overwhelming’ Migration to Europe

THE OBSERVER: Prime minister makes controversial remarks at Rome conference organised by Giorgia Meloni’s party

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni welcoming Rishi Sunak in Rome on Saturday: an onlooker thought they had ‘good chemistry’. Photograph: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Rishi Sunak has been accused of adopting the “toxic” rhetoric of his former home secretary Suella Braverman, after he warned that migration would “overwhelm” European countries without firm action.

In remarks that will further inflame the Tory row over migration that has been raging for weeks, the prime minister said that “enemies” were “deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our society”.

Sunak made the comments at a festival in Rome organised by the far-right Brothers of Italy party, led by the Italian premier Giorgia Meloni. He said that both he and Meloni, with whom he has been forging a close relationship over hardline migration policies, were taking inspiration from Margaret Thatcher’s steadfast radicalism in their quest to do “whatever it takes” to “stop the boats”. » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome and Michael Savage | Saturday, December 16, 2023

Sunak ist politisch eine Niete. Er hat überhaupt kein gutes Feingefühl für die Politik. Wenn er sagt, daß das größte politische Problem Immigration ist, ist es absurd. Ungleichheit und Armut sind viel, viel wichtiger als Zuwanderung, obschon Zuwanderung wichtig ist. Und was tut Sunak dagegen? Was sind seine Lösungen? – © Mark Alexander

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Splits from Partner after His Sexist Comments

GUARDIAN EUROPE: TV journalist Andrea Giambruno was recorded making suggestive comments towards a female colleague

Giorgia Meloni said of the split: ‘Our paths have diverged for some time and it is time to acknowledge it.’ Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has split from her partner, Andrea Giambruno, a television journalist who has made several embarrassing, sexist comments.

“My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” Meloni wrote on social media, two days after two off-air recordings emerged of Giambruno, a presenter on Mediaset’s news talkshow Diario Del Giorno, making foul remarks and suggestive comments towards a female colleague.

The couple have a seven-year-old daughter. “I thank him for the wonderful years we spent together, for the difficulties we went through and for giving me the most important thing in my life, which is our daughter Ginevra,” Meloni wrote. “Our paths have diverged for some time and it is time to acknowledge it.” » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome | Friday, October 20, 2023

Roberto Saviano Faces Defamation Verdict for Remark about Giorgia Meloni

GUARDIAN EUROPE: Writer could be imprisoned if found guilty over comments castigating Italian PM for her vitriol about Mediterranean rescues

Saviano, the author of Gomorrah, has had libel cases brought against him by two other current government ministers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
A Rome judge is poised to deliver a verdict in a criminal defamation trial against the Italian anti-mafia author Roberto Saviano for calling the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, a “bastard”.

In a case that has attracted international attention and criticism of Italy’s draconian defamation laws, Saviano, who has lived under police protection since the publication of his bestselling book Gomorrah, faces up to three years in prison if found guilty at Rome’s criminal court on Thursday.

The global writers’ association, Pen International, has expressed solidarity with Saviano and urged Meloni to drop the charges.

Sabrina Tucci, the communications and campaigns manager for Pen who is in Rome for the hearing, said: “The fact that this lawsuit was initiated by Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, serves as a dangerous warning to writers and journalists, suggesting that their words could lead to prolonged legal battles, financial strain, emotional distress, and possible imprisonment. » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome | Thursday, October 12, 2023

Anti-Mafia-Kämpfer Roberto Saviano wegen Verleumdung verurteilt: Der Schriftsteller hatte Giorgia Melonis Haltung in der Migrationsfrage scharf kritisiert. Nun muss Saviano eine Geldstrafe zahlen, er selbst sieht sich als „Opfer einer autoritären Regierung“. »

UK, US and Allies Offer Israel ‘Steadfast Support’ in Joint Statement

GUARDIAN INTERNATIONAL: Quint group – which also includes France, Germany and Italy – says ‘terrorist actions’ of Hamas must be ‘universally condemned’

The leaders of the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy have released a joint statement expressing “steadfast and united support” for the state of Israel and “unequivocal condemnation” of Hamas.

It follows an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza on Saturday by the Palestinian militant group, with Israel responding with airstrikes and a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip.

The statement was released after a call between the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak; the US president, Joe Biden; the French president, Emmanuel Macron; the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz; and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Together the five countries comprise the Quint international organisation.

“We make clear that the terrorist actions of Hamas have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned,” the statement reads. “There is never any justification for terrorism. » | Hayden Vernon | Monday, October 9, 2023

Who Is Giorgia Meloni?

Sep 28, 2022 | She's set to become Italy's first woman prime minister leading the most far-right government since Benito Mussolini … And some GOP lawmakers are here for it. Who is Giorgia Meloni?

Italian PM ‘Astonished’ at Germany Paying Charities for Refugee Rescues

GUARDIAN EUROPE: In stern letter to Olaf Scholz, Giorgia Meloni criticises support provided for saving people in the Mediterranean

Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Italy’s far-right prime minster, Giorgia Meloni, has written a stern letter to the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, telling him she was “astonished” to learn that Berlin was paying charities to rescue people in the Mediterranean.

The row between Italy and German broke out after the Catholic charity Sant’Egidio said it had signed a fresh deal with Berlin to fund activities assisting refugees in Italy.

A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said his government had implemented a “financial support programme” worth €790,000 (£685,000) to support the German NGO SOS Humanity in carrying out search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. Saving people at sea was a “legal, humanitarian and moral duty”, the spokesperson added. » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome | Monday, September 25, 2023

How Life Is Changing for Italy's Gay Families – BBC News

Sep 23, 2023 | Italy’s government is planning to criminalise people who travel abroad to have children via surrogacy, which is already banned in the country.

While the majority of Italians who seek surrogacy abroad are believed to be heterosexual, many same-sex parents fear the new law is targeting LGBT families by making it harder for them to have children.

A recent Ipsos poll shows that 45% of Italians oppose the idea of surrogacy, but 45% were also in favour of granting legal recognition for children born via surrogacy.

Italy - President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 78th Session

Sep 21, 2023 | Giorgia Meloni, President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Italy, addresses the general debate of the 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 19 - 26 September 2023). This video is available in multiple languages. Click the settings ⚙️ button to change the language track.

Meloni und der Faschismus, Meloni und die Migranten

Ingo Zamperoni, Moderator der ARD-„Tagesthemen“, zu Gast bei in der Diskussionsrunde „Hart aber fair“ zum Thema: Melonis Italien: Wie gefährlich ist der Rechtsruck für Deutschland und Europa? | Bild: WDR
TV-KRITIK „HART ABER FAIR“
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Bei „Hart aber fair“ sollte es um aufgeworfene Fragen aus Ingo Zamperonis Dokureise durch Italien gehen. Doch dann landeten Tausende Migranten auf Lampedusa.

Italien hat seit knapp zwölf Monaten eine Regierung, die so weit rechts steht wie keine andere seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Wie hat das Land sich unter Ministerpräsidentin Giorgia Meloni verändert, und was bedeutet der Vormarsch der italienischen Rechtspopulisten für Europa? Das waren die Fragen, um die es am Montagabend eigentlich bei „Hart aber fair“ gehen sollte.

Als Grundlage war die vorab gelaufene 45-minütige Dokumentation von Ingo Zamperoni gedacht. Der „Tagesthemen“-Moderator ist durch das Land seiner Großeltern gereist, um es ein Jahr nach dem Wahlsieg des rechtsnationalen Bündnisses zu beleuchten; um etwas hintergründiger hinzuschauen und zu überlegen, was der unaufgearbeitete Faschismus mit dem Siegeszug Melonis zu tun hat. So weit, so vielversprechend – der Zeitpunkt für eine Diskussion jenseits aktueller Aufreger schien günstig. » | Von Karen Krüger, Redakteurin im Feuilleton | Dienstag, 19. September 2023

Italy's Right-wing Government Targets Another Enemy | Focus on Europe

Jun 18, 2023 | Italy is arguing over what constitutes a family. Its right-wing government is putting pressure on gay couples with children.

It doesn’t seem to me that Giorgia Meloni is in any position to tell others what a family is or is not. Please read this Wikipedia entry on her. Is this woman really a paragon of virtue herself? Is this fascist really in a position to be able to deny gays the right to their own happiness? These hypocritical politicians really are something else! – © Mark Alexander

Gay Couples Fear Italy's Right-wing Alliance | Focus on Europe

Oct 18, 2022 | Giorgia Meloni's election victory is a nightmare for Monica and Maria. The lesbian couple have adopted each other's two children, but their situation could become a problem in the future.

Neue italienische Ministerpräsidentin Meloni zu Besuch in Brüssel

Nov 4, 2022 | Die neue italienische Ministerpräsidentin kündigt bei ihrem Brüssel Besuch an, dass ihre rechtsgerichtete Partei eine stärkere Rolle in der EU spielen soll. © REUTERS

Giorgia Meloni Appoints Minister Once Pictured Wearing Nazi Armband

THE GUARDIAN: Brothers of Italy politician Galeazzo Bignami says he feels ‘profound shame’ over wearing swastika in 2005

After the photo initially emerged in the press in 2016, Bignami shrugged the gesture off as a bit of ‘lighthearted’ fun.
A Brothers of Italy politician who was once photographed wearing a Nazi swastika armband is among the junior ministers appointed in Giorgia Meloni’s government.

Galeazzo Bignami, named undersecretary at the infrastructure ministry, caused controversy after a photograph of him wearing the armband was published by an Italian newspaper in 2016. The photo dated back to his stag party in 2005, and after it initially emerged in the press he shrugged the gesture off as a bit of “lighthearted” fun.

Bignami, a 47-year-old lawyer, secured a second term in parliament in the late September general election won by a coalition led by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy – a party that traces its origins back to the neofascist Italian Social Movement (MSI).

On Monday Bignami said he felt “profound shame” over the Nazi armband photo while firmly condemning “any form of totalitarianism” and describing nazism as “the absolute evil”. » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome | Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Italie : Giorgia Meloni, dirigeante du parti d’extrême droite Fratelli d’Italia, a été officiellement chargée de former un gouvernement

LE MONDE : Matteo Salvini a été nommé ministre de l’intérieur, et le proeuropéen Antonio Tajani aux affaires étrangères.

Giorgia Meloni (Fratelli d’Italia) s’adresse à la presse au palais du Quirinal après un entretien avec le président italien, Sergio Mattarella, dans le cadre des consultations précédant la nomination d’un gouvernement, vendredi 21 octobre 2022. GREGORIO BORGIA / AP
Après la victoire historique de son parti aux législatives en septembre, Giorgia Meloni va devenir la première femme à occuper la fonction de président du conseil en Italie, vendredi 21 octobre. Cette Romaine de 45 ans, qui est parvenue à « dédiaboliser » le parti d’extrême droite Fratelli d’Italia pour arriver au pouvoir exactement un siècle après Mussolini, a été mandatée par le président de la République, Sergio Mattarella, pour former un gouvernement. Elle a présenté vendredi après-midi les membres de l’exécutif, qui prêteront serment samedi matin au palais du Quirinal. » | Le Monde avec AFP | vendredi 21 octobre 2022

Italy’s Far Right Triumphs in Election

FOREIGN POLICY: Giorgia Meloni is expected to head the country’s most right-wing government since World War II.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, speaks at a press conference at the party electoral headquarters in Rome overnight on Sept. 26. ANTONIO MASIELLO/GETTY IMAGES
Far-right firebrand Giorgia Meloni is set to lead Italy after her party, Brothers of Italy, received the most votes in elections on Sunday. She is expected to head the country’s most right-wing government since the era of fascist leader Benito Mussolini.

Brothers of Italy ultimately won 26 percent of votes—six times more than it received in 2018—while the right-wing coalition it was part of secured 44 percent. But the election was marked by record-low voter turnout, with just 64 percent of people participating, almost a 10 percent drop compared to the last general election.

Meloni represents the “the last, probably, available option for Italians to voice their discomfort with the political establishment and with the way the economy has been managed,” said Carlo Bastasin, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Low turnout, he added, “is another form of Italians’ discomfort with the political situation.”

Since entering politics, Meloni has experienced a meteoric rise to the top, as Giorgio Ghiglione wrote in Foreign Policy in August. Her success was largely built on “the credibility crisis of her adversaries on the left and her allies on the right, who have all become increasingly inconsistent in the eyes of the public,” he wrote.

Despite her efforts to soften her position ahead of the election, Meloni is known for her hard-line stances, famously proclaiming: “Yes to the natural family. No to the LGBT lobby. Yes to sexual identity. No to the ideology of gender.” On immigration, she has pushed for a Mediterranean “naval blockade” and previously declared that Italy’s existing policies could transform it into the “refugee camp of Europe.” » | Christina Lu, a reporter at Foreign Policy | Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Législatives en Italie : une ombre sur le projet européen

LE MONDE – ÉDITORIAL : Editorial du « Monde ». Pour la première fois depuis cent ans, l’Italie s’apprête à expérimenter un gouvernement dominé par l’extrême droite. Une menace pour l’Europe, après les succès des Démocrates de Suède et du RN aux élections législatives.

Si le triomphe de Fratelli d’Italia aux élections législatives italiennes, dimanche 25 septembre, n’est pas une surprise au regard des sondages qui, ces dernières semaines, lui donnaient une large avance, la victoire d’un mouvement postfasciste dans un pays membre fondateur de l’Union européenne (UE), troisième économie de la zone euro, n’en constitue pas moins un séisme politique.

Avec un quart des suffrages, le parti de Giorgia Meloni est désormais en position de force pour former un gouvernement de coalition avec la Ligue de Matteo Salvini et Forza Italia de Silvio Berlusconi. Pour la première fois depuis l’accession au pouvoir de Benito Mussolini, à l’issue de la Marche sur Rome, il y a pile cent ans, l’Italie s’apprête à expérimenter un gouvernement dominé par l’extrême droite. Certes, Fratelli d’Italia a jusqu’à présent tenté de rassurer en gardant ses distances avec le fascisme historique. Mais ses ambiguïtés et ses références douteuses contribuent à entretenir l’inquiétude sur ses intentions véritables et incitent à la plus grande vigilance. » | Éditorial « du Monde » | lundi 26 septembre 2022

Fascism Returns in Italy: Giorgia Meloni Claims Victory, Allied with Right-wing Parties

Italy's first far-right leader since Benito Mussolini, Giorgia Meloni, has declared victory. Her Brothers of Italy party is allied with Spain's far-right Vox party, Poland's ruling nationalist Law and Justice party and the Sweden Democrats party, which emerged out of its neo-Nazi movement. We look at "the return of fascism in Italy" with professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present," who says that Meloni, a self-declared conservative, "really sees her party as carrying the heritage of fascism into today." Ben-Ghiat also describes why Meloni is part of a "transnational design" to create a far-right political culture across Europe.

Elections en Italie : qui est Giorgia Meloni, la jeune dirigeante du parti postfasciste aux portes du pouvoir ?

MAURO SCROBOGNA / AP
LE MONDE : PORTRAIT | La cheffe du parti Fratelli d’Italia, donnée favorite dans les sondages aux élections législatives qui se tiennent ce dimanche 25 septembre, est entrée très tôt en politique et n’a cessé, depuis, de faire son chemin, jusqu’à incarner aujourd’hui le conservatisme transalpin.

Ce dimanche d’octobre 2019, il y avait des dizaines de milliers de personnes, venues de toute l’Italie, sur la piazza San Giovanni de Rome. D’ordinaire, cette large esplanade est le lieu de rendez-vous des rassemblements de la gauche. Mais, cette fois-ci, c’était au peuple de droite de crier sa colère. Quelques semaines plus tôt, après l’échec calamiteux de sa manœuvre consistant à rompre avec les « 5 étoiles » (parti antisystème) pour provoquer des élections anticipées, le dirigeant de la Ligue (extrême droite), Matteo Salvini, avait été évincé du ministère de l’intérieur et renvoyé à l’opposition, tandis que la gauche revenait aux affaires.

Ce meeting était l’occasion de refaire l’unité au sein de l’alliance des droites et, pour Matteo Salvini, de réécrire l’histoire de sa peu glorieuse sortie de scène, en gommant ses responsabilités évidentes pour se poser en victime innocente d’une gauche machiavélique. Silvio Berlusconi, tout heureux de voir se reformer l’alliance traditionnelle, ne s’était pas fait prier pour donner son onction au rassemblement. La dirigeante de Fratelli d’Italia, Giorgia Meloni, avait fait plus de difficultés, refusant de poser en obligée du leader de la Ligue. De plus, à Rome, elle est chez elle et n’a nul besoin de Salvini le Milanais pour se faire entendre… » | Par Jérôme Gautheret (Rome, correspondant) | vendredi 23 septembre 2022

Italian Voters Appear Ready to Turn a Page for Europe

THE NEW YORK TIMES: With the hard-right candidate Giorgia Meloni ahead before Sunday’s election, Italy could get its first leader whose party traces its roots to the wreckage of Fascism.

Supporters of Giorgia Meloni at a joint rally on Thursday for the Brothers of Italy, League and Forza Italia parties in Rome. | Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
ROME — Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s hard-right leader, resents having to talk about Fascism. She has publicly, and in multiple languages, said that the Italian right has “handed Fascism over to history for decades now.” She argued that “the problem with Fascism in Italy always begins with the electoral campaign,” when the Italian left, she said, wheels out “the black wave” to smear its opponents.

But none of that matters now, she insisted in an interview this month, because Italians do not care. “Italians don’t believe anymore in this garbage,” she said with a shrug.

Ms. Meloni may be proved right on Sunday, when she is expected to be the top vote-getter in Italian elections, a breakthrough far-right parties in Europe have anticipated for decades.

More than 70 years after Nazis and Fascists nearly destroyed Europe, formerly taboo parties with Nazi or Fascist heritages that were long marginalized have elbowed their way into the mainstream. Some are even winning. A page of European history seems to be turning.

Last week, a hard-right group founded by neo-Nazis and skinheads became the largest party in Sweden’s likely governing coalition. The far-right leader Marine Le Pen — for a second consecutive time — reached the final round of French presidential elections this year.

But it is Italy, the birthplace of Fascism, that looks likely to be led not only by its first female prime minister in Ms. Meloni but the first Italian leader whose party can trace its roots back to the wreckage of Italian Fascism. » | Jason Horowitz | Saturday, September 24, 2022

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