Giorgia Meloni sent two emissaries to the meeting with the League and Forza Italia at the beginning of August where the common program of the right-wing coalition was to be negotiated.
As they were leaving, the leader of the Brothers of Italy warned Giovanbattista Fazzolari, one of them: “Before sitting down at the table, you tell them that in the preamble of the program it must appear that we are with Ukraine, that Russia is the aggressor country, that we will maintain our commitments with NATO and that there will be full adherence to the European integration process”.
If the answer was no, they didn't even have to sit down.
The anecdote explains Meloni's intense work to normalize her party, a far-right formation born from the embers of post-fascism and today a member of Vox in Europe.
A process, more or less credible,
An hour later than expected, Meloni appeared in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, which governs his party -also the region- and where a thousand faithful were waiting.
He played
Il cielo e semper più blu
, by Rino Gaetano to start – the right has no soundtrack – and ended with the country's anthem, whose first phrase is “brothers of Italy”.
His rallies are extremely theatrical, he modulates his voice, walks around the stage and gesticulates exaggeratedly.
Flags of the country, also of the formation, shouts against the left and, above all, a motto that explains well some of the complexes against which the party is fighting these days.
“
Soon
[ready].”
For years the Brothers of Italy have been accused of lacking a ruling class and of being incapable of organizing themselves around a government project, as Meloni herself recalled.
“And you, are you ready?” Asked one of the videos that was broadcast on a loop.
That is precisely the premise on which the party has been immersed for months: preparing Italy and Europe for the advent of a disturbing political force.
Meloni today enjoys resounding support in the polls (around 25%) which, added to that of his coalition partners, points to a resounding victory.
So much so that some surveys indicate that they will even reach two thirds of the seats, enough to reform the Constitution.
The problem, Roman politics soon perceived, is the fear and mistrust it arouses in banking, the industrial sector in the north of the country, in Brussels and among the country's Atlantic allies.
His recent past, eurosceptic and national populist, weighs too much.
But without reassuring all that universe, they consider in the party, it will be impossible to reach the Chigi Palace.
The distance with Matteo Salvini, in free fall, is evident.
And not only in the polls, where they are already separated by about 12 points.
Meloni contradicted him last week about the sanctions on Russia, which the League leader was in favor of lifting.
In addition, as happened in L'Aquila, certain stridencies against the European Union are avoided, and there is not a single criticism of the current Prime Minister of Italy, in whose government Meloni refused to participate.
The relationship between the leader of the Brothers of Italy and Mario Draghi, according to those who treat them, is good.
She has tried to maintain those ties and show full agreement with some of the policies carried out by the former ECB president.
She serves as his guarantor.
In fact, she has assured on more than one occasion that international politics will be the same.
Meloni, with a thick Roman accent, charges at his rallies against the left and is comfortable with the polarization that has established itself in recent weeks.
It is her or the Social Democrats.
An ideal scheme to avoid stepping on certain puddles.
Even so, she has to do continuous juggling so as not to disappoint the most radical, far-right and populist base that has brought her to the current situation.
The target is immigrants — she calls them “non-community” to avoid the term — and their supposed privileges.
And there she gets the biggest applause.
"If you want to come into my house, you have to respect my rules," she launched into her audience.
The problem in this attempt at normalization is the civil rights agenda, where Meloni has been very aggressive with what she calls
gay
lobbies or with issues such as abortion.
In Marche, in fact, one of the regions where she governs her party, the morning-after pill is practically not distributed.
She also squeaks under the makeup a quite heterogeneous ruling class where nostalgics abound.
Pierluigi Biondi, mayor of L'Aquila, who hosted and presented Meloni's event, for example, has a phrase by José Antonio Primo de Rivera on his WhatsApp and was a member of Casa Pound, an openly neo-fascist party.
Meloni released an unusual video in three languages in August denying fascism.
A step forward, but also an acceptance of a past that connects with the Italian Social Movement (MSI), founded by Giorgio Almirante, and whose flame in the party's logo has remained.
The youth of the party, present at the rally, also deny that label.
Andrea Piepoli (25 years old), one of its leaders, put land in between next to the removable booth of the formation.
“Look, I'm from 1996. What do we have to do with that?
The party's identity is right-wing, but modern and based on Italy's international agenda.
Our roots are Christianity and the history of the country.”
A long and also heterogeneous history.
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