For Politico, Meloni 'is the most powerful person in Europe'

Giorgia Meloni is 'the most powerful person in Europe' according to Politico's 2025 ranking. "Who do you call if you want to talk to Europe? If you're Elon Musk, the world's richest man and key adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, the number you call belongs to Giorgia Meloni," writes the US newspaper, noting that "in less than a decade, the leader of the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party has gone from being dismissed as an ultranationalist lunatic to being elected prime minister of Italy and establishing herself as a figure with whom Brussels, and now Washington, can do business."

In the description of the award, Politico recalls how the Italian premier "although she veered towards the centre", she 'began her political career as an activist in the youth wing of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement'.

"Since her election in 2022, Italy's prime minister has introduced policies on issues such as immigration and LGBTQ+ rights that would once have drawn condemnation from Brussels," instead, many EU leaders "have accepted Meloni as the welcome representative of the increasingly radical zeitgeist that is blossoming on both sides of the Atlantic," and the willingness to "collaborate with Meloni on the European stage allows Italy's 47-year-old prime minister, who insists on using the masculine form of his formal title, the Prime Minister, to be a strong 'man' capable of wielding enormous power.

"Meloni made headlines around the world when she became Italy's first female prime minister, but few predicted that she would last long in office," the US paper further reconstructs. Instead, "in the past two years Meloni has consolidated her government as one of the most stable ever in post-war Italy" and her "polished and practical appearance" "contributes to the image of stability".

Politico then recalled: 'After the president of the Campania region Vincenzo De Luca referred to the prime minister as a 'bitch' during an election rally, the prime minister came to an event in his region and greeted the opposition politician by saying: "President De Luca, that bitch is me, Meloni. How are you?"'.