It is a saying, one that has structured the principles of the Italian mafia and in general of the entire Mediterranean boot over the years, a phrase that is applied from criminal guidelines, to institutions and through daily life, that which is governed and sustained by loyalty and the word. “Whoever is capable of betraying the person who sleeps next to him every night is capable of betraying anyone.” Giorgia Meloni is far-right, yes, but perhaps more important is that she is Italiansomething their counterparts often forget in their respective nations. The Italian prime minister has burned the boats and put her foot on the wall for weeks with the position of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the war against Iran. Is there another extreme right? Well, calm down, let’s not be so optimistic.
Fratelli d’Italia, the party founded in 2012 and to which Giorgia Meloni belongs, has its roots in the Italian Social Movement (MSI), which rose from the ashes of Mussolini’s fascism. This is important because Italy did not have a process similar to the denazification of Germany after the war, which has allowed many parties to recast themselves based on the same ideas as then. Meloni began precisely in the toughest youth of the movement, although in recent times and, above all, since she became prime minister, she has tried to place herself at a midpoint of the formation. His alliance with the right of Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvino gave him the key to Italian governability. So, if he belongs to the same group as Javier Milei, Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal and, obviously, Donald Trump, does he?I may have changed course?
The start of the Iran war was the trigger for the opposition against Trump. Since the beginning of the war, the differences between the Italian leader and the American leader began to take shape and create a wound that continues to this day. Trump’s demands regarding NATO and the palpable differences with the rest of the members were beginning to establish an obvious, but not definitive, distance. In March of this same year, The Strait of Hormuz crisis led to Meloni’s sentencewhich decides that Italy adopts a prudent position far from any military commitment. In fact, it follows a path similar to that of Spain in its refusal to allow the US to use its military bases and avoiding commitments to the conflict. Something that disconcerted many, both in the White House and in other countries (yes, also on the Spanish right).
Even in the conflict between , Meloni was forceful: “There are many things in which I do not agree with him, international law must be defended.” The political and even personal relationship between the two was always good, it should be remembered that Trump defined her as a “world leader”, but recent events have broken the bridges forged between the alliances of the global extreme right in recent years. “Rome will not follow Washington’s line,” the prime minister declared.
You will honor your father
Giorgia Meloni joined Pope Leon XIV.
There is a red line that any politician must know in the Italian context. One that has put the final nail in the coffin of relations between Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni: never mess with the Pope in front of an Italian. In recent days, the pontiff has spoken out against the war that has broken out in the Middle East. “Dear brothers and sisters, without a doubt the rulers of nations have unavoidable responsibilities. We yelled at them: stop! It’s time for peace! Sit at tables of dialogue and mediation! Not at tables where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are deliberated,” said Leo XIV. “Enough of the idolatry of oneself and money! True strength is manifested in the service of life,” he insisted.
Faced with this scenario, Trump, capable of intimidating even the devil himself, raged fiercely, demanding that the Pope “stop pandering to the radical left”. “I don’t want a pope who considers it acceptable for Iran to possess a nuclear weapon. I don’t think he is doing a very good job, I am not an admirer of Pope Leo,” said the American leader.
After Trump’s darts, Meloni entered the game as any Italian leader would have done. “The statements, particularly about the Pope. I would not feel comfortable in a society where religious leaders do what political leaders say. Not in this part of the world,” assured the Italian Prime Minister. The European angel that Trump considered was beginning to become Lucifer in the face of the paradox of the ironclad defense of the defense of the Holy See. Who was going to say.
Meloni, who has historically been Trump’s best ally on the continent and who was even one of the few to attend his presidential ceremony, expanded her differences with the White House, which was quick to respond: “It is she who is unacceptable, because she does not care that Iran has a nuclear weapon and he can blow up Italy in two minutes if he gets the chance,” Trump said. “Do Italians like that your president isn’t doing anything to get oil? Do people like it? I can’t imagine it. I’m very surprised. “I thought (Meloni) had value, but I was wrong,” he continued, publicly evidencing the gap between the two.
Feijóo, take note
Elly Schlein, general secretary of the Italian Democratic Party.
Trump’s words against what was his favorites In Europe they have gone around the world and the ball fell under the Italian chamber of representation, what position would the Chamber of Deputies adopt? Elly Schlein, national secretary of the Democratic Party, of a chain that has continued since then and has become unanimous.
““No foreign head of state can afford to attack, threaten or disrespect our country or our government.”has assured in the chamber, condemning Trump’s words: “We strongly condemn – and I am sure that this condemnation will be unanimous in this chamber – President Donald Trump’s attack against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.” “We may be adversaries in this chamber, but we are all Italian citizens and representatives of the Italian people, and we will not accept attacks or threats against our government and our country,” he stated. Do you remember the beginning of the text? Well that, omertá. Comparisons with the Spanish opposition have not been slow in coming either.
Another blow to Trump’s line
This same Tuesday, Meloni also distanced himself from Donald Trump’s line, annulling the Israeli defense agreement, the second part of the tandem made up of the White House leader and Benjamin Netanyahu. “Given the current situation, the Government has decided to suspend the renewal,” said the Italian Prime Minister. “It is necessary continue working to advance peace negotiations while all possible efforts must be made to stabilize the situation and reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” Meloni said.
Although for months it seemed that Trump was leading the far right around the world, including in Europe, the positions that Giorgia Meloni has taken have confused everyone and everyone. So much so that even Pepa Millán, spokesperson for Vox in Congress, faced with the open-hearted crisis that both the American and Italian leaders are going through. It seems that international conflicts and the war unleashed in the Middle East may cause the split of some European far-rights or even that the famous rise of the extreme right is contracting. For the moment, Orbán has lost the elections and, for the moment, Trump’s favorite has already begun to move away from her thesis.
