Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has stated he is open to Italy being led by populist firebrand Giorgia Meloni, known for her fierce anti-communist rhetoric and socially conservative stances on abortion and gay marriage.
Berlusconi is part of a centre-right coalition comprised of his Forza Italy party and two more radical national populist parties, namely Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Matteo Salvini’s League (Lega), which could upturn European politics if it wins the upcoming Italian election.
The elder statesman has indicated that he is open to the idea of Meloni becoming the next Italian prime minister if the FdI emerges as the strongest of the three coalition parties after the election.
“Meloni, like Matteo Salvini, like many exponents of Forza Italia and the other parties of the coalition, has all the credentials and authority to lead a high-profile government, credible in the world, firmly linked to Europe and the West,” Berlusconi told the newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale.
The 85-year-old made his remarks following a summit of the centre-right parties on how to approach the elections in September, which were prompted by the fall of the technocratic “national unity” government of former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi this month.
“I am satisfied, first of all, because from today’s meeting comes a united centre-right, not on the seats but on the ideas, on the program, on the projects for Italy and also – but this is secondary – on the criteria for indicating the prime minister candidate,” Berlusconi explained.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy were the only major party not to participate in the controversial Draghi government, and it has been at the top of the polls for months and remains the most popular party in the country according to a recent poll by l’Istituto Piepoli.
Meoni herself is known as a firebrand politician and is not only socially conservative but is not hesitant about expressing her views on social issues.
Last year, for example, Meloni spoke out about the LGBT bill known as the Zan bill, claiming that leftists use LGBT people as “human shields” to push an agenda including the teaching of gender ideology to children and the criminalisation of conservative opinions.
The 44-year-old is also opposed to abortion in practice, does not support same-sex marriage, and opposes mass immigration.
Meloni and the FdI are also perhaps the most outspokenly anti-communists in Italy, with the party pushing to ban communism entirely last year, arguing that laws used to ban fascist parties should apply to communist parties as well.
Communist organisations such as the Red Brigades terrorised Italy for much of the 20th Century, with their most infamous crime likely being the kidnapping and murder of former prime minister Aldo Morro.
Italy is still seeking to bring members of such organisations to justice, some of whom are being shielded from prosecution by supposed European Union allies like France.
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