He is one of the emerging figures of the extreme right in Europe. The president of the Brothers of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni, is part of the so-called “centre-right” coalition, given as the favorite for the Italian general elections scheduled for September 25.
His campaign was highly publicized in Italy and Europe. But in France, she appeared on television in 1996. At 19, she campaigned for the National Alliance, a far-right political party dissolved in 2009.
A France 3 report, presented by the INA, follows her during the campaign for the Italian general elections of 1996. Her affiliation with the extreme right is already clear.
“I think Mussolini was a good politician. Everything he did, he did for Italy,” he says in French. Qualities that, according to her, “we do not find” in politicians since his death.
From activist to party president
The young Giorgia Meloni then directed the youth section of the National Alliance in Garbatella, a neighborhood in Rome. Since then, her political career has taken off. In 2006, at the age of 29, she was elected as a deputy in Lazio during the general elections. She later became Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies and then Minister of Youth in the government of Silvio Berlusconi in 2008. In 2012, she co-founded her current political party, the Brothers of Italy-National Right Center. She has been its president since 2014.
This year, for the general elections, Giorgia Meloni campaigned on pronatalist, eurosceptic and anti-immigration themes. If in 1996 Giorgia Meloni extolled the merits of Mussolini, now she tries to make him forget this position.
“Decades ago, the Italian right wing relegated fascism to history and unequivocally condemned the disenfranchisement of democracy and the infamous anti-Jewish laws. We also unequivocally condemn Nazism and communism, the latter being the only totalitarian ideology of the 20th century that follows in power in some countries,” the 45-year-old said in a YouTube video posted in August.
If her coalition wins, she could become prime minister. In 1996, her coalition came in second place. “If we lose, we will win another time,” she told France 3 at this time. The Italians must decide on September 25 if Giorgia Meloni will suffer another defeat 26 years later.
Source: BFM TV
