The real surprise of Giorgia Meloni's end-of-year press conference lies not in his ease in answering all the questions, in his mastery of the most disparate subjects, in his ability to dodge the insidious questions (which in any case were very few), but in the attempt to present a very different face from that of the Opposition melons anti-Europe, linked to the old social right, therefore anti-market, statist and sovereignist. The new Meloni wants to draw a conservative right-wing profile for her government, effectively renouncing most of the positions taken in the recent past, to adopt a liberal vision based on the "market", on the valorisation of merit, on the defense of the democratic West compared to the onslaught of the Russian and Chinese autocracies.
Government melons and opposition melons: a reversal of positions
It is a real reversal of positions which involves the abandonment of the old demagogic tirades of the opposition Meloni, and above all a profound revision of the convictions she herself expressed in the book of two years ago "I am Giorgia" which was based on a nationalism fueled by the belief that the rest of the world, and in particular the other European countries, were plotting against Italy to conquer us, if not with weapons, with control of our economy.
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From the press conference on Thursday 29 December, it emerges that the attempt to shed her skin is underway and that Meloni also appears sincerely committed to giving herself a statesman's new look, pragmatic, but determined to give Italy the role it deserves in the international arena.
Government melons: gray areas and ambiguities remain
However, there are still several gray areas in this evolution and for the moment it is not yet possible to be sure where it will end up. In particular there are three macro-themes on which ambiguities are still very strong: that of the economy, that of Europe, and the concept of "national interest" which without a specific qualification would allow the Government to do a bit of everything and its opposite.
On the economy Meloni apparently sided with the market, for free enterprise which must be left to work, indeed helped to make investments and put in a position to hire staff without too many bureaucratic alleys and with reduced social security contributions. It is positive to note that this government has put the issue of "growth" back at the center of its economic policy, after many years during which only redistribution was thought of, causing economic stagnation.
All this, however, coexists with the old propensity of his party to favor the enlargement of the role of the state in companies, in the defense of public enterprises, in the tendency to control financial flows to favor certain sectors rather than others. Even the need to review the supply chains of globalization by resettling at home strategic productions that too lightly had been left to migrate to unreliable countries can be done in many ways. Administrative dirigisme must not prevail, but a policy of incentives must be agreed with Europe to favor investments in our territory.
There is strong ideological confusion over Europe
right on theEurope the ideological confusion still seems very strong. The idea of removing a series of market regulation powers from Brussels to entrust the intergovernmental body with the possibility of committing Europe to strategic matters subject to agreement between the various countries, seems to worsen the current situation where the intergovernmental consensus has taken more and more space. Europe is accused of not having acted on energy issues, of being clumsy on immigration, of not having a foreign policy and even less of a common armed force, of not having a Community budget capable of promptly dealing with crises. All true. But apart from any errors, these are issues that the various nation states have never wanted to delegate to Europe.
Europe: the case of the ESM is sensational
In the emergency, as happened with COVID, some vaccine supply policies have been pooled. In other words, Europe doesn't work much because it isn't federal, that is, because there isn't a central government capable of making timely decisions for everyone. But Meloni does not want any progress towards federalism. A contradiction clearly highlighted by the absurd question of the reform of the ESM. This is an intergovernmental fund and not of the Commission, which can play a role in crises, now also banking crises, but which does little precisely because it is linked only to certain interventions decided by the various states. Meloni claims he should do more. Perhaps rightly so, but to give the ESM broader tasks it would be necessary to make it an instrument of the Commission, that is, make it a federal instrument and not subject to negotiation between states.
Finally, the question of the national interest that Meloni and his ministers often stir up. Who decides what the national interest is? The current government could be led to confuse the national interest with that of its political party. It is a very difficult concept to focus on and one that must be handled with caution to prevent it from generating a nationalism of the kind that caused so much trouble in the last century.
Meloni's challenge: from nationalist populism to the mass liberal movement
Giorgia Meloni certainly understood that her government can only last if she abandons the nationalist populism that is in the DNA of her party, to transform it into a mass liberal movement. He has taken decisive steps along this path, for example in foreign policy where he abandoned the traditional anti-Americanism of the MSI, and set aside the anti-European and anti-Euro tones of the Brothers of Italy, to side with the West against the aggression of the Russia to Ukraine, and to talk to Brussels without prejudice and with pragmatism.
In this endeavor she is not helped by her traveling companions. Salvini he continues to say that Europe must not impose public finance rules on us, which we know how to administer by ourselves. In short, he shows that he has not understood that what Europe is asking of us is in our interest. These are reforms that we should have done a long time ago, and which we didn't do also because of the League which in 2011 caused the most serious financial crisis in our country for not wanting to reform pensions and local finance. It would be good if Meloni had a precise perception of the damage that the League can do. Silvio Berlusconi then he is pathetically looking for a role. But the seriousness of his claims about Putin that he "wanted to put good people in Kyiv" cannot be underestimated. Someone who says those things who knows what he might say in the future!
In Italy's interest, it would be desirable to have an authentically liberal government. Berlusconi, who professed himself to be so, in practice did not have the courage to liberalize our system. Meloni must first reorganize his troops and then go on the attack on the many corporations that are holding back the growth of our country. And he will have to start clashing with many "castes", starting with the magistrates. May the star enlighten us once again!
Article to share; but reading that in a country like this the first caste to be "regular" is the judiciary left me a little uneasy.