Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government this weekend became the longest surviving Italian government since the fall of fascism in 1945. It is a remarkable achievement for a woman who identifies as a conservative, but who has been relentlessly branded as “the heir to Mussolini” and a far-right threat to democracy because she was once a post-fascist.

Regardless, Italy’s first female prime minister has become the standard bearer of the European right as the people of Europe continue to pivot right. Elections next year look likely to bring the right to power in both France and Spain.

The Latino will replace the Teutonic in the engine room of the EU

The Latino will replace the Teutonic in the engine room of the EU

In Italy – where a general election must be held by 22 December 2027, although the talk is of April or May – Meloni remains the favourite to win and thus to break another record: an unprecedented back-to-back second term.

The consequences for the EU will be dramatic as a triple alliance of right-wing France, Italy and Spain will compel the shaky centre-right coalition government of Friedrich Merz in Germany to pivot right as well. It will mean that Germany for once no longer calls the shots. The Latino will replace the Teutonic in the engine room of the EU.

At least, that is, until the ever more popular right-wing Alternativ für Deutschland wins at national level in 2029. The AfD has become this year the most popular party in Germany by a country mile in the polls, and on Sunday won its first ever state election in Saxony-Anhalt in former communist East Germany. Herr Merz is going to have to move one heck of a lot more right if he wants to avoid catastrophe.

There have been 68 governments in Italy since 1946 when Italians voted to replace the monarchy that had collaborated with Benito Mussolini’s 23-year fascist dictatorship with a republic. Most have lasted little more than a year. But Giorgia Meloni’s government has now overtaken the late Silvio Berlusconi’s second government that survived 1,412 days between 2001-2005. To celebrate the occasion, Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia, staged a big rally in the port city of Bari in Puglia on Friday where those present were offered local specialities such as Spaghetti all’Assassina. The slogan chosen for the occasion was “Il Governo stabile, l’Italia forte” (roughly , “The more stable the government, The stronger Italy”).

Traditionally Italy has been a by-word for political chaos, and so the creation of stability is Meloni’s most important achievement

Traditionally Italy has been a by-word for political chaos, and so the creation of stability is Meloni’s most important achievement

Traditionally, Italy has been a by-word for political chaos, and........

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