Italian prime ministers rarely have long reigns. Yet some manage to impose enduring changes. Silvio Berlusconi governed for only nine years, but his mid-1990s “tele-populism” created a political model that has spread far beyond Italy. Given that Giorgia Meloni hasn’t even been prime minister for 12 months, it may seem premature to discuss her place in history. But her new book La versione di Giorgia (“Giorgia’s Side of the Story”) is a bid to start defining her legacy – even if, she claims, “true revolutions are only understood with the passing of time”.
While Meloni’s poll ratings remain high, some caution is in order about the hard-right leader’s likely endurance. Several recent Italian prime ministers have enjoyed honeymoon periods before succumbing to a familiar cycle of straitjacketed public spending, economic stagnation and voter disillusionment. Still, Meloni insists that she will rule a full five-year term, based on the electoral mandate she won in September 2022. Some admirers even tout her as a “new Angela Merkel” – an era-defining leader able to fill Europe’s leadership vacuum.
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