From our special correspondent in Turin,
“You see, the French bad weather does not pass the Alps”, smiles Catia in front of the Turin sky flooded with blue. It hasn’t rained for weeks in the city, and the forecast announces a firecracker sun for the days to come. A meteorological difference that could be modeled on the Heads of State of the two neighboring Nations. On the one hand, the gray soup for Emmanuel Macron, shaken up with his very unpopular pension reform. On the other, no cloud on the horizon for Giorgia Meloni, President of the Council of Ministers in Italy.
The far-right leader has just completed her first 100 days and her honeymoon with the Boot seems to be extending, according to Nando Pagnoncelli, director of the Ipsos polling institute in Italy. The Meloni government is credited with 46% of favorable opinions, while she was elected with only 23% of the vote. On the radio, the news repeats in a loop the good economic results – unemployment and falling debt. In this context, the regional ones that arrive, the first election since he took power in September 2022, look like a formality. The vote also begins this Sunday with the regions of Lombardy and Lazio (Rome and its surroundings), two right-wing strongholds. Meloni’s story could therefore come out stronger, to the point that the country begins to believe in a little political stability, an almost incongruous thought here.
Very short-lived policies
The Italian voter has indeed the fickle vote and gets tired very quickly. The political life there is one of the most eventful in Europe – the British remaining very strong competitors. Count seven heads of the Council, eight governments and three legislatures over the last ten years. Beyond the simple figures, the country seems to love shooting stars, these policies carried to the firmament then burned very quickly. Mario Draghi, the previous Council President, is a good example. The former president of the ECB had been placed at the head of the country in 2020, enjoying the support of almost all political parties, with the heavy task of saving Italy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. He will resign less than two years later following yet another government crisis. Matteo Salvini, leader of La Ligue, illustrates both the wringer that Italian politics has become: a few years ago, it was rain or shine. Here it is now reduced to being the fifth wheel of the government coach. Vice-president certainly, but whose ideological lines are in no way followed.
From the same political side as this troublemaker, Giorgia Meloni seems to be made of another wood, sufficiently consistent to resist Italian passions. “Salvini is a jerk, she isn’t. It’s a malignancy”, regrets Allesandro, 47, whose heart which beats on the left sees little reason to ignite in the months to come: “It has smoothed out, adapted, it is ‘normalizing’ ‘ to last. An observation shared by all the left-wing voters crossed – and there are many of them in Turin. For them, Meloni spent his first 100 days in power overshadowing years of raucous statements.
Meloni and the reality principle
Her current mantra can be summed up in a sentence that she repeats at will: “The important thing is to take reality into account”. The euroscepticism claimed during his campaigns? A distant memory, while Italy is counting on the precious euros of the recovery plan of the Twenty-Seven. Support for Russia, so dear to its two allies to gain power, Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi? In oblivion, Meloni’s Italy supports aid to Ukraine, so as not to offend either Brussels or NATO. The budget ? He is on the same basis as his liberal predecessor Draghi, with the same Minister of Economy. “This is what explains its success, confirms Nando Pagnoncelli. She reassured voters on all sides by finally showing herself to be very moderate. »
Of course, there is still the risk that this smoothing will displease his voters. But even in Italy, where we change the President of the Council faster than we drink our espresso, some want to believe in the praise of patience. “She’s only been here a hundred days!” If she had changed the country in such a short time, it would not be the head of the ministers but the Virgin Mary”, gets carried away Massima, taxi driver. He himself voted for Meloni, in the hope that she would reverse “the uberization of the country. I paid 60,000 euros for my taxi license, it’s not to see anyone being able to claim to do my job”.
If he is rather satisfied for the moment with the president – “the economic results are good” -, he has few illusions about his long-term future. The 50-year-old knows that nothing lasts long in the country. “It will go well in the regional elections, because these are elections close to her nomination and she still has the wind in her sails. If she’s good, she’ll last maybe two, two and a half years. Plus, it’s very complicated here.” Since 1987, only Silvio Berlusconi, twice (2001-2006 and 2008-2011), has managed to exceed three years.
The end of the Italian RSA, a promising measure
And fatalism to which Cinzia, manager of a metallurgy company, does not adhere. The equation is simple for the one who defines herself as “a natural optimist”. From the moment she voted Meloni, she is determined to believe in her success for the years to come. But in addition to this Couet method, there is the weariness of seeing power constantly change hands and alliances. In a decade already marked by Covid-19, inflation and war in Ukraine, “a bit of stability would do Italy good”. She also cites a very right measure by Giorgia Meloni – one of the few in her program actually put in place. The citizenship income, equivalent to the French RSA, was revised downwards in 2023, and will be abolished in 2024.
“It’s a decision I fully support, and I’m not the only one,” proclaims the manager. We are talking about a woman fed with elbow grease, whose 73-year-old father is still working – out of will and for pleasure. Remuneration “without working” is therefore contrary to all its values, in a country where each social expenditure is closely scrutinized.
The providential woman?
Even sense of (dis)measure in Alonso, 59 years old. The carnivorous smile and the proud gaze of someone who has worked all his life – from the age of 14 in his case – to finally achieve happiness in his old age. If he takes advantage of his retirement to ski in the French Alps, his eyes only light up for his Nation: “Italy has everything to become the greatest country in the world. We have the most beautiful culture, the most beautiful beaches, the most beautiful heritage. If we are not number 1, it is the fault of the assistantship and the lack of a leader”. Or a leader, whom Italy may well have finally found, according to him. “We need a strong person to put the country back in place. »
That’s good, he sees Meloni staying for a long time. “At least five years”, if only because of non-existent opposition. In Italy, power is acquired through games of alliances, and the left parties are for the moment unable to create a coalition, undermined by deep internal disagreements. “The others disappointed us all by doing nothing. You can always criticize Meloni by saying that she hasn’t done much, but in Italian politics, to achieve even one action is already to do better than all the rest. »
This love of the “leader” is one of the rare hopes of the left to hope to finish as quickly as possible with the president of the Council. “There will be someone else who will seduce by screaming even louder than Meloni”, hopes Catia. Except that for the first time in a long time, Italy seems ready to let other politicians bark in the void to watch the Meloni caravan make its way.