Meloni sets a record, leading Italy’s longest-serving government since WWII

As supporters celebrate the milestone, analysts warn longevity is not tantamount to stability.

The leader of Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, was elected in October 2022 and has since established a new single-term ​record [File: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]

In the mountain resort of Abetone Cutigliano, nestled in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, supporters of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are celebrating.

On Friday, the Italian leader and her party set a record – leading the country’s longest-lasting government since World War II.

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Famed for political instability, Italy has seen 68 governments in eight decades. While the late Silvio Berlusconi keeps the title of longest-serving premier, having held the premiership for a longer period over four terms, the government led by the far-right Brothers of Italy has now overtaken his record of 1,412 consecutive days in power.

Abetone Cutigliano, the prime destination for skiing enthusiasts, was one of the municipalities that made the accomplishment possible, overwhelmingly voting for Meloni’s party in the national elections of October 2022. Andrea Tonarelli, a councillor with Brothers of Italy’s local branch, said a seafront celebratory event is being held to mark the occasion.

“Those of us who can’t go will gather at the party’s local office to watch the rally,” the 35-year-old told Al Jazeera.

For Tonarelli, an engineer for the municipality, the milestone is a “point of pride”.

“Ten years ago, this result would have been unthinkable,” he said. “I feel emotional saying this, but the merit goes to those people who were able to get hold of the youth like me.”

A self-professed mountain dweller who joined Brothers of Italy in 2017, Tonarelli said he was enticed by the party’s opposition to the left’s “armchair environmentalism” that restricts hunting, thwarts big infrastructure projects and opposes selective woods logging.

He also embraced the party’s “patriotic” resolve to put “Italians first”, including through border protection and the promotion of local products and traditional heritage.

“Our main characteristic is believing in what we do and giving it our 100 percent,” he said. “This is not a milestone reached by Giorgia Meloni, by the party, or by a single militant. This is a milestone by an entire community that makes history in this nation.”

‘Profoundly symbolic’

Grazia Di Maggio, the youngest member of the Chamber of Deputies for Brothers of Italy, hailed the government’s record-breaking longevity as “profoundly symbolic”.

“Giorgia Meloni is the first woman to hold the office of prime minister and she comes from a right-wing background, which means no shortcuts and no favouritism,” the 31-year-old told Al Jazeera, hinting at Italy’s rebuke of Benito Mussolini’s totalitarian dictatorship and subsequent weariness of far-right ideologies.

Meloni has sought to distance herself from fascism, declaring in 2022 that the Italian right had handed the ideology “over to history”.

For Di Maggio, who left the southern region of Basilicata at the age of 18 and started her political career leafleting while pursuing a degree in communications in Milan, Meloni’s accomplishment sets an example.

“It’s a story that shows that passion, sacrifice and personal value can make a difference,” she said. “It demonstrates that a right-wing government can be credible, stable and uphold its responsibilities.”

Analysts have questioned Brothers of Italy’s claim to a newfound political stability.

“Political stability is not measured by the government’s longevity,” Paolo Carusi, a lecturer in contemporary history at Roma Tre University, told Al Jazeera.

In previous decades, “governments would fall but political ideologies would remain stalwart,” Carusi said. “The current political scene is characterised by voter volatility … Italians don’t feel like voting any more – and if they do, they tend to reward parties that run for the first time.”

Carusi argued that two main factors enabled Meloni’s government to survive longer than others. First, Italy’s latest electoral law, dating back to 2018 and applied to the 2022 election that brought Meloni to power, worked to her advantage by allowing the right-wing coalition to obtain an absolute majority.

Second, Brothers of Italy gave up on much of its electoral programme to maintain stability, unlike previous governments that had alienated coalition partners by pursuing their own agendas.

As a result, Meloni is now grappling with the rapid ascent of a new far-right party led by former army ‌general Roberto Vannacci, which has become the country’s fourth most popular political force only seven months after its launch.

In the upcoming 2027 general election, Vannacci’s National Future will be able to “claim to be the only true upholder of right-wing values,” Carusi said.

Political scientist Piero Ignazi, who lectures at the University of Bologna, said the government’s longevity signalled a period of stasis.

“Stability can be useful to create change, or it can be a way to remain static or even shift into reverse,” the analyst said, arguing that the latter describes the trajectory of Meloni’s government.

Italy’s economy remains fragile, with forecasts projecting its growth at a lacklustre 0.6 percent in 2026. Next year, it is expected to rank last in growth and first in public debt within the European Union.

Alongside Italy’s economy, social policies are also a cause for concern, Ignazi said.

The government has reformed the law to criminalise actions that previously resulted only in fines or civil penalties.

“The government introduced 52 new felonies and all of them have to do with the expression of public dissent and the right to protest,” he said. “This marks a dangerous setback which I believe is the harbinger of more to come if another right-wing government is elected.”

在支持者庆祝这一里程碑之际，分析人士警告说，寿命长并不等同于稳定。

意大利兄弟党领导人乔治娅·梅洛尼于2022年10月当选，此后创下了单届任期的新纪录。[图片：Guglielmo Mangiapane/路透社]

在托斯卡纳-艾米利亚亚平宁山脉的阿贝托内库蒂利亚诺山地度假胜地，总理乔治亚·梅洛尼的支持者们正在庆祝。

周五，这位意大利领导人和她的政党创造了一项纪录——领导着该国自二战以来任​​期最长的政府。

列表 1/3：至少 57 人死亡，6 万人从摩洛哥越境进入西班牙休达

意大利暂停与西班牙之间的人员自由流动：休达事件后申根区是否陷入危机？（共 3 条，此为第 2 条）

西班牙对意大利实施边境检查，作为对休达争端的反制措施（共3条，此为第3条）

意大利以政治动荡著称，八十年间经历了68届政府。已故的西尔维奥·贝卢斯科尼曾四次担任总理，保持着任期最长总理的纪录，但如今由极右翼的意大利兄弟党领导的政府已经打破了他连续执政1412天的纪录。

阿贝托内·库蒂利亚诺是滑雪爱好者的首选目的地，也是促成这一成就的几个市镇之一，该市镇在2022年10月的全国大选中以压倒性优势投票支持梅洛尼的政党。意大利兄弟党当地分部的议员安德烈亚·托纳雷利表示，将举行海滨庆祝活动来纪念这一时刻。

“我们这些不能去的人会聚集在党的当地办公室观看集会，”这位35岁的男子告诉半岛电视台。

对于市政工程师托纳雷利来说，这一里程碑是“值得骄傲的”。

“十年前，这样的结果是不可想象的，”他说。“说这话我有些激动，但这功劳应该归功于那些能够抓住像我这样的年轻人的资源的人。”

自称是山民的托纳雷利于 2017 年加入意大利兄弟党，他说，该党反对左翼的“纸上谈兵的环保主义”，这种环保主义限制狩猎、阻挠大型基础设施项目并反对选择性伐木，这吸引了他。

他还拥护该党“爱国”的决心，即“意大利人优先”，包括保护边境、推广当地产品和传统文化遗产。

他说：“我们的主要特点是坚信自己所做的事情，并全力以赴。这并非乔治娅·梅洛尼、党或某个激进分子取得的成就，而是整个群体共同创造的里程碑，在这个国家的历史中留下了浓墨重彩的一笔。”

“具有深刻的象征意义”

意大利兄弟党众议院最年轻的成员格拉齐亚·迪·马乔称赞本届政府创纪录的长期执政“具有深刻的象征意义”。

“乔治娅·梅洛尼是第一位担任总理的女性，她出身右翼背景，这意味着不会走捷径，也不会徇私舞弊，”这位31岁的意大利总理告诉半岛电视台，暗示意大利对贝尼托·墨索里尼极权独裁统治的反感，以及随后对极右翼意识形态的厌倦。

梅洛尼一直试图与法西斯主义划清界限，她在 2022 年宣称，意大利右翼已经将这种意识形态“交给了历史”。

对于迪马乔来说，梅洛尼的成就树立了一个榜样。迪马乔 18 岁离开意大利南部的巴西利卡塔地区，在米兰攻读传播学学位的同时，开始通过散发传单的方式开启了自己的政治生涯。

“这个故事表明，热情、牺牲和个人价值观可以带来改变，”她说。“它证明了右翼政府可以具有公信力、保持稳定并履行其职责。”

分析人士对意大利兄弟党声称取得新的政治稳定表示质疑。

“政治稳定性不能用政府的执政时间来衡量，”罗马第三大学当代史讲师保罗·卡鲁西告诉半岛电视台。

卡鲁西说，在过去的几十年里，“政府更迭，但政治意识形态却始终屹立不倒”。“而当前的政治格局的特点是选民情绪波动……意大利人似乎不再热衷于投票——即便投票，他们也倾向于支持那些首次参选的政党。”

卡鲁西认为，梅洛尼政府能够比其他政府执政更长时间，主要有两个因素。首先，意大利最新的选举法（该法于2018年生效，并适用于2022年将梅洛尼推上权力宝座的选举）对她有利，因为它允许右翼联盟获得绝对多数席位。

其次，意大利兄弟党为了维持稳定，放弃了大部分竞选纲领，这与以往那些因追求自身议程而疏远联盟伙伴的政府截然不同。

因此，梅洛尼现在正努力应对由前陆军将军罗伯托·瓦纳奇领导的新极右翼政党的迅速崛起，该党在成立仅七个月后就成为该国第四大最受欢迎的政治力量。

卡鲁西表示，在即将到来的 2027 年大选中，瓦纳奇的“国家未来”党将能够“声称自己是唯一真正的右翼价值观捍卫者”。

在博洛尼亚大学任教的政治学家皮耶罗·伊格纳齐表示，本届政府的长期执政标志着一段停滞期。

“稳定有助于变革，但也可能导致停滞不前，甚至走向倒退，”这位分析人士表示，并认为后者描述了梅洛尼政府的发展轨迹。

意大利经济依然脆弱，预计到2026年其经济增长率仅为0.6%，表现疲软。明年，意大利的经济增长率预计将在欧盟成员国中垫底，公共债务水平则位居榜首。

伊格纳齐表示，除了意大利的经济之外，社会政策也令人担忧。

政府已修改法律，将以前只会导致罚款或民事处罚的行为定为刑事犯罪。

他说：“政府新增了52项重罪，所有这些罪名都与表达公众异议和抗议权利有关。我认为这是一次危险的挫折，如果另一个右翼政府当选，这预示着未来还会有更多类似的情况发生。”