{"id":218296,"date":"2026-09-07T09:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T09:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/218296\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T09:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T09:19:14","slug":"the-afds-triumph-catches-the-italian-right-off-guard-meloni-ponders-the-date-of-the-vote-and-vannacci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/218296\/","title":{"rendered":"The AfD\u2019s triumph catches the Italian right off guard. Meloni ponders the date of the vote and Vannacci"},"content":{"rendered":"

The populist wind is blowing strongly once again in Europe, this time tinged with Nazi nostalgia. And the triumph of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt<\/a>, the oldest and poorest of the German federal states, complicates the deliberations in Italia by Giorgia Meloni and her allies on three key issues: relations with Friedrich Merz\u2019s Germany and with Europe in general, the alliance with Roberto Vannacci, and the date of the election.<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Ministers on opposing sides<\/p>\n

The initial reactions alone are already setting off alarm bells within the ruling coalition. With the two deputy prime ministers heading in opposite directions: the League\u2019s Matteo Salvini congratulates \u2018my friend Alice Weidel\u2019 on her \u2018resounding success\u2019 (whilst Saxon leader Ulrich Siegmund receives praise from Elon Musk: \u2018Well done\u2019), whilst the centre-right Antonio Tajani speaks of \u2018terrible news\u2019 and the rise of a political force \u2018at odds with liberal and Western values\u2019. A predictable divergence, even if Salvini\u2019s jubilation clashes with the fact that the AfD is twinned with none other than Vannacci, the great traitor. He gloats, quoting Turandot: Mario Monti, with whom he clashed on stage at Cernobbio, \u2018will have to devote what little energy he has left to the AfD as well. Nessun dorma\u2019.<\/p>\n

Meloni remains silent and ponders<\/p>\n

As for the Prime Minister, who, following the celebration in Bari<\/a> marking the government\u2019s record-breaking tenure, has chosen to remain silent \u2013 \u2018It has never interfered in other countries\u2019 elections,\u2019 his staff explain diplomatically \u2013 is yet another factor to be taken into account in the complex assessments currently under way. Not that the Saxon result hadn\u2019t been factored in, but the percentage of the vote \u2013 44.5 per cent \u2013 exceeded expectations and confirms just how much the radicalisation of messaging and the fury against the European Union are striking a chord with an impoverished electorate that is increasingly weary of war. The party line at Fratelli d\u2019Italia is quickly established: no immediate comments; every move must be carefully considered.<\/p>\n

Criticism of the euro set to increase<\/p>\n

Setting aside fears of repercussions for Merz, which could reignite the crisis with Italy over \u2018Dublin cases\u2019<\/a> which the Chancellor wants to send back, the Italian right intends, first and foremost, to step up its criticism of the EU. This is already evident from a statement made by Tajani \u2013 the most pro-European figure in the coalition \u2013 in an interview with *Il Messaggero*. \u201cEurope,\u201d he argues, \u201cmust change: no more fundamentalism, no more Green Deal, less bureaucracy, yes to the single market. In general, less ideological choices, less detached from the public.\u201d This is the line consistently taken by Meloni, who has made the battle against \u201cideological environmentalism\u201d and the risk of \u201cindustrial desertification\u201d \u2013 exacerbated by European policies \u2013 her rallying cry. It is easy to imagine that she will wave this banner with ever-greater vigour.<\/p>\n

The turmoil in Ukraine<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Palazzo Chigi is also grappling with another question: how to continue supporting Kyiv \u2013 a move opposed by the AfD, which has capitalised on the frustration felt by some Germans \u2013 whilst Zelensky himself is warning of a conflict that is set to drag on well into next winter? A shift in stance was already evident at the celebrations marking the government\u2019s record-breaking tenure last Friday in Bari, where not a single mention was made of support for the Ukrainian people. This support will continue, not least thanks to the steadfastness of the Under-Secretary Giovanbattista Fazzolari, but one can safely bet that it will be more low-key than ever. Not least because the very person campaigning against Italian support is Vannacci himself, whose pro-Russian stance \u2013 just like that of the AfD \u2013 is certainly no secret.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The populist wind is blowing strongly once again in Europe, this time tinged with Nazi nostalgia. And the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[127],"tags":[273],"class_list":["post-218296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-giorgia-meloni","tag-giorgia-meloni"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117229018629033553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}