Meloni kicks off her bid for a second term: ‘Stability is the first major reform. I haven’t given up and I never will’

The passages dedicated to women drew loud applause: the defence of the offence of femicide (a response to Vannacci, who denies the phenomenon), with a tribute to Lorena Isceri, who was thrown from a flyover by her ex-partner; the attack on ‘no-go zones’ where women’s rights are denied and where ‘fundamentalism’ and jihadist radicalisation flourish; the fresh attack on magistrates who undermine the efforts of Parliament and the police, as in the case of the investigating magistrate who failed to validate the arrest of the convenience shop employee who groped a 13-year-old girl.

Meloni uses the catchphrase coined by Matteo Renzi – ‘Back when they were in power…’ – to turn it against the broad coalition, starting with a jibe at the ‘receipt lottery’ of former Prime Minister and M5S leader Giuseppe Conte. The Prime Minister paints a picture of a Left in the throes of an identity crisis, which ‘uses the spectre of fascism as a weapon of mass distraction’, and condemns the ‘woke’ movement. She debunks the narrative that ‘everything is going wrong’.

“Our goal is an Italia that no longer asks anyone’s permission. I have no intention of giving up, and I have no intention of settling for less,” Meloni promises in conclusion. She refutes the rumours circulating the day before, according to which announcements of high-impact measures were due to be made in Bari.

The value of stability is the concept Meloni emphasises in her responses to the many messages of congratulations received from international leaders, ranging from Japan’s Sanae Takaichi to India’s Narendra Modi, from the UAE’s Mohamed bin Zayed to the Belgian Bart de Wever, and finally to the Secretary-General of NATO, Mark Rutte, to whom she conveys the realisation “that our stability and our credibility are an important asset”, not only for Italia “but for all our partners and allies”.

Before the Prime Minister and her allies took the floor, the only speakers were Marcello Gemmato, Under-Secretary of State for Health and Fdi coordinator in Puglia, and Raffaele Fitto, Vice-President of the European Commission, reflecting the pragmatic pro-European stance that has characterised the government’s four years in office. “Credibility, practicality and feasibility, linked to stability, have presented a unique opportunity,” he emphasised, recalling the shift in approach in Brussels regarding water, housing and energy policies.

Between the speeches by Gemmato and Fitto, eight ordinary citizens took to the stage as ‘ambassadors’ - a small business owner from Puglia, a trainee specialist in emergency medicine, a literature teacher from Emilia, an engineer who owns a livestock farm in Sardinia, a skipper who provides educational programmes aboard a sailing boat confiscated from organised crime, a medical student from Bari, a nurse working in Puglia, and the Carabiniere Luciano Masini, who shot and killed a 23-year-old Egyptian man on New Year’s Eve and was subsequently investigated for manslaughter. These are the faces chosen to symbolise an era that Meloni hopes will not come to an end.

Maurizio Lupi, president of Noi Moderati, was the only ally present. “We are not here to celebrate ourselves,” he said, “but to understand what the most stable government in the history of the Republic has achieved: very concrete responses to a change that Italia has been awaiting for many years.” Lupi defended the new electoral law, citing stability as its key feature: “A battle for true democracy.”

The leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, speaking via a video link from an Autogrill service station in Tuscany – a link frequently disrupted by connection problems – paid tribute to the ‘giants’ Silvio Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi, and took the opportunity to launch a broadside against Europe and the left (“We will not allow anyone to lay their hands on our homes, or our second homes”). ‘Long live the leaders of the opposition parties who allow us to carry on with our work.’ High-speed rail, the housing plan and the new Highway Code are among the achievements he claimed credit for. Concluding with what he considers to be the ‘values of the centre-right’: the traditional family (‘Mum should be mum, dad should be dad’) and the fight against drugs and illegal immigration.

The tribute to Berlusconi was, unsurprisingly, also paid by the leader of Forza Italia. “Since 1994, we have been a coalition in which the principles of loyalty, fairness and friendship towards the electorate prevail,” observed Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani. “We are still the same. Our ideas and values have not changed. The fundamental principle is freedom.” The Foreign Minister has once again taken up the battle for tax cuts and sounded the death knell for the centre-left: “It is dead; only the left remains. The centre-right is the home of the moderates.”