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Written by Piero Messina
They are wrong in Kremlin if anyone thinks that Italy will become the EU’s weak link vis-à-vis Russia. The center-right coalition won in the elections on 25 September. A success far beyond the expectations of Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing passionate who grew up in the myth of “good” fascism and Tolkien as a natural leader. The center-right that is about to govern Italy is made up of three different political groups. The real winner of the dispute is the “Fratelli d’Italia”, the party founded a little over ten years ago by Giorgia Meloni, Ignazio La Russa and Guido Crosetto. Heirs of the post-fascist tradition, the women and men led by Meloni have always been on the margins of society. They are the heirs of the tradition of the Italian Social Movement, the party that was liquidated in the mid-nineties after Mussolini’s rejection of nostalgia.
Longside Meloni there will be Matteo Salvini of the Lega and Silvio Berlusconi, senior leader of Forza Italia. Only Salvini, in the recent past, has claimed a different position with respect to Russia, calling for the abolition of sanctions as they damage the Italian economy. Even Berlusconi – an old friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, when the Russian president was praised by the Western chancelleries – sometimes seems to regret that past. A few days before the elections, host of a talk show on the main Italian television channel, Berlusconi made Western diplomacy tremble, justifying the work of the Russian president: “The Russian troops had to enter and in a week replace the Zelenksy government with people for good and go back “. The concept of replacing Zelensky with “decent people” has infuriated Washington and Italy’s Western allies.
Giorgia Meloni’s party has the relative majority: every choice on the composition of the government, on the assignment of key ministries will therefore be up to Giorgia and her core of loyalists. But it is still a limited sovereignty. Italy’s serious financial conditions do not allow for spaces of political viability. Cologne of Brussels and anchored to the fate of the German metalworking industry, Italy, with or without Meloni, can only go along with the wishes of Brussels and NATO. The very survival of the country is at stake, increasingly at risk of economic and social implosion. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the EU Commissioner Ursula Van Der Leyen, on the eve of the elections, invited the Italians to vote well. No room for sovereignty and vetoes on sanctions against Russia. Van Der Leyen has threatened to cut European funds to Italy, as he is about to do to Hungary led by Viktor Orban
Again to make it clear who is in charge, the US State Department had released, ten days after the vote, a report on alleged Russian funding to Western parties. In short, a sort of Cremlinogate to influence the Italian vote. The Washington note spoke of about 300 million dollars invested between 2014 and 2021. Obviously all the Italian media have thought of funding for Salvini’s League (historically linked to the Russian world) and the Meloni party. But the scoop quickly deflated: the State Department made it clear that there are no Italian political parties or figures among the beneficiaries of Putin’s rubles. So why did the State Department launch that alert on the eve of the Italian elections? It seemed like the classic Mafia threat. A memento mori addressed to those who, by winning the election, will have to govern Italy. There is no doubt about the Atlanticist loyalty of the new Italian government.
Among the leading figures of the new government structure, a prestigious role will be played by Ignazio La Russa. He has already been Minister of Defense, he is the politician who concluded the memorandum of understanding with the United States to have the fifth antenna of the MUOS system built in the heart of Sicily. La Russa is considered a pro-American hawk. He is widely talked about in the leaks stolen by Julian Assange. It was 2009 and La Russa, then Minister of Defense, was ready to leave for the States where he would meet the then secretary of defense Robert Gates. The US embassy in Rome issues the top secret cable, classified 09ROME1132. Its recipient is Mr. Gates. Here is how La Russa is described: “unlike his many government colleagues, he has been a vocal supporter of a strong defensive system and robust operations abroad, ever since the Berlusconi government came to power in May 2008. Although he does not belong to Berlusconi’s close circle, he is a prominent politician to his right – the second most powerful figure in the Alleanza Nazionale party that recently merged with the People of Freedom (PdL).
A lawyer by profession, La Russa is a shrewd political strategist, whose rather brusque appearance and behavior hide a sharp intelligence and full mastery of details. Although he is often accused of being more attentive to political parties than to military leadership, La Russa is a staunch defender of increased military spending and greater protections for Italian troops on the ground, and is popular with the armed forces. La Russa, a rarity in Europe, is a great supporter of the NATO mission in Afghanistan and is not afraid to publicly expose the need to continue Italy’s commitment in this country. Thanks in large part to its firm public defense, the ISAF mission remains a top-level Italian priority”.
With such travel friends therefore, Giorgia Meloni had understood from the beginning of the electoral campaign the need to erase any Russian shadow on her past. Interview from British and US broadcasters, the next Italian prime minister has sworn allegiance to NATO, guaranteed support for sanctions against Russia and confirmed that Italy will remain at the forefront of supplying arms to the Kiev government. A nice disappointment for those who imagined a new course that was not flattened on the Atlantic line dogma. Moscow was not entirely wrong in imagining a change of course for the Italian government. Giorgia Meloni was already in government, in 2011, when the head of the Italian government was Silvio Berlusconi. At the helm of the Brothers of Italy for over ten years, from 2014 onwards Meloni had always contested sanctions against Russia and had stood out for an anti-euro and anti-Europe political line. Today everything has changed. Because, as an old Italian sage recalls, power wears out those who don’t have it. And after thirty years spent in opposition, Giorgia Meloni and her traveling companions want everything and they want it immediately. Even denying their past.
