Meloni hits back at Schlein: 'He who runs away has no content'. "In Ukraine peace is made with deterrence"

Then a still scathing passage on the opposition. "They say we favour the rich, for them those who earn 2,500 euro gross a month are rich, we have a different idea of who the rich are. These are all realities to which the left guaranteed their favour when they were in government' and 'we do not accept lessons from those who play the communist with the middle class and the turbo-capitalist with the centres of power'.

Il selfie della premier al termine del suo intervento

Il selfie scattato dalla presidente del Consiglio al termine del suo discorso ad Atreju. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

"We are not sitting on our laurels because there is still a lot of work to be done and we are only at the beginning. And because in the end for us the only judgement that really counts is that of the Italian people,' the premier continued. However, being considered credible is a precondition for recovering the role that Italy is due at international level, to be influential. Also to help settle the very difficult international context whose consequences we will in any case pay for, to be able to better defend our national interests, which is why we are also working to build a leading nation in the West'.

That international context Meloni repeatedly dwells on, starting with the US position and the relationship between Trump and Europe. 'We are working to build a leading nation in the West, there have been all these alarmed assessments because Donald Trump has said that the US intends to disengage from Europe and that Europeans must defend themselves. What can I say, good morning Europe. For 80 years we contracted out our security pretending it was free, but there was a price to pay and that price is called conditioning'. As for the alleged subalternity to the US, the focus of the opposition's remarks, the premier is crystal clear. "The same left wing that accuses us of subservience to the US demands that the US does not give up considering us subordinate: they are like that, they like the master. With the PCI it was Moscow, then Paris-Berlin-Brussels, the US is fine too but when the democrats rule. With us Italy is loyal to all its partners but subordinate to no one'.

On Europe, however, the premier is clear. "Italy today is also a respected nation in Europe. We have had the courage to claim that our nation for its history, for its culture, for the skills of its citizens and its companies has the right and the duty to be in the place it deserves. No longer a primary, no longer a spectator, but an active participant in major global decisions. And so we have become a point of reference for millions of Europeans who are not resigned to the idea of a Europe that is ideological but at the same time hardly ever logical, bureaucratic, light years away from the needs of its citizens. And those Europeans will be more and more because we do not intend to back down'.

"We do not resign ourselves to the idea that the great European civilisation, the one that gave the world law, thought, beauty, freedom, is today being told off as a useless pachyderm, good only to be laughed at. Europe is not waning. Europe is not a museum of the past. It is a living civilisation, which still has a mission. And which does not ask permission to exist. Not even from the institutions that govern it. And that and as long as we defend it, no one can reduce it to a caricature. This is the mission of the great family of European conservatives,' she further emphasises.

Then a very clear reference to Ukraine after the controversy of recent days over the new aid decree to Kiev and Europe's OK to the indefinite blockade of Russian assets. "From day one we have stood by the Ukrainian people fighting against Soviet-style neo-imperialism. No one is nostalgic for the USSR that trampled half of Europe for half a century'. Therefore, he added, 'we will continue to do so, out of a sense of justice, to defend our national interest and to achieve peace, which is not built with John Lennon songs but with deterrence'.

There is also a reference by the Prime Minister to the latest moves by the EU, which has crushed the industrial system with the Green Deal. "We will continue to resolutely defend our companies from the ultra-environmentalist ideological follies that have not protected the environment, have not saved the planet, but on the other hand have decisively weakened the European industrial fabric and condemned our economies to increasing dependence on other superpowers that in the meantime continue to pollute freely without the fake environmentalists of the LTZ having the urge to cry foul,' she explains, assuring that the government intends to intervene on the energy bill, the reduction of which is particularly awaited by the production system. And then he also indulges in a passage about the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. 'In recent days she has attacked the government, rest assured: we are still on the right side of history'.

Meloni then dedicates a very passionate passage to the South. 'When the only response was to wave ridiculous proposals thinking that people were dumb the south remained at the post, today I am proud to say that the south is the locomotive of Italy thanks to a completely different strategy'.

As for the future, there are many promises poured out by the PM, who first and foremost hits the security button. "We want to move forward even more decisively in building a secure nation. We must strongly tackle the phenomenon of the 'maranza' because those who cultivate hatred and violence on our streets must no longer be able to count on impunity. Italy is no longer the banana republic that the left liked so much'.

L’intervento della premier alla kermesse di FdI

Giorgia Meloni, presidente del Consiglio, durante la Festa di Atreju a Roma

The Prime Minister then assures that the government will continue to work on the premierate 'to stop palace games' and will proceed without hesitation, she assures, even on the justice reform, reiterating that this government will not fall before its natural conclusion. 'Never mind Meloni, this government remains in office until the end of the legislature, governments pass but laws remain and affect your life. Vote for yourselves and your children,' he notes regarding the referendum on the reform itself. 'Vote for yourselves,' he adds, 'and for the future of the nation. Vote so that there can no longer be a disgrace like the one in Garlasco'.

On families, he recognises that there is still a long way to go despite the measures put in place. "A forward-looking nation invests in the family: with tax relief for working mothers, the newborn bonus, so that creating a family is no longer a luxury and so that no woman has to choose between work and motherhood. This is the only true freedom. Despite our efforts we are lagging behind, we must do more'.

Prime Minister and FdI leader Giorgia Meloni had arrived at Atreju on Sunday morning, greeted by applause and a chorus of 'Giorgia, Giorgia! The Prime Minister and leader of FdI had greeted the audience with a kiss and then taken her place in the front row together with the party's organisational manager Giovanni Donzelli as she waited for her speech that closed the kermis immediately after the debate that saw the two deputy prime ministers, Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, on the stage set up in Castel Sant'Angelo.

L’abbraccio della premier con Morawiecki

La presidente del Consiglio Giorgia Meloni e Mateusz Morawiecki ad Atreju

Before her speech, the number one of Fratelli d'Italia had also indulged in a little off-topic with Mateusz Morawiecki, president of the European Conservatives party (Ecr), who, at the end of her speech on the stage set up in Castel Sant'Angelo, had called her on stage to take a photo together with his mobile phone. Immediately afterwards, the Prime Minister had returned to sit in the front row, not before greeting her daughter Ginevra, who had come to Castel Sant'Angelo with the Prime Minister's former partner, Andrea Giambruno, to listen to Meloni's speech.