Category Archives: Giorgia Meloni

Pope prays for ‘unity and peace in Italy’ as Giorgia Meloni takes power

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Country’s first female prime minister leads the most rightwing government since the second world war

Pope Francis offered prayers for “unity and peace in Italy” as Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s first female prime minister, took the helm of the country’s most rightwing government since the second world war.

Meloni, the leader of Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist origins, met the outgoing prime minister, Mario Draghi, for a formal handover ceremony on Sunday. “I did not expect this welcome,” Meloni, 45, said as she was greeted by Draghi, referring to the ceremonial guard. “It’s an emotionally impacting thing.”

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Pilgrims to Mussolini’s birthplace pray that new PM will resurrect a far-right Italy

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In Predappio, supporters celebrate victory of their first female prime minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of a party with neo-fascist origins

Dressed in a black sweater, with “Propaganda” written in bold white letters across the back, Marco, 32, and his two friends had travelled to Predappio from their home in the Marche region to pay their respects at the grave of Benito Mussolini before the impending 100th anniversary of the fascist dictator’s march on Rome.

The ornate Mussolini family crypt, located in the tiny San Cassiano cemetery of the Emilia Romagna town, has attracted thousands of admirers since it reopened on an all-year-round basis in March, with the daily flow increasingly more consistent since the late September general election victory for a coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist origins, which was sworn into government on Saturday.

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Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni sworn in as Italy’s prime minister

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Meloni took the oath of office as Italy’s first female premier at the presidential palace on Saturday

Giorgia Meloni, whose political party has neo-fascist roots, was sworn in on Saturday as Italy’s prime minister.

Meloni, 45, took the oath of office as Italy’s first female prime minister before the Italian president at the presidential palace.

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‘We need to unite against this nationalism’: Italians air fears after victory for populist right

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Observers expect Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini to float policies inimical to migrants, LGBT rights and abortions

Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League, has promised that his alliance with Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy will deliver a long-lasting government as Italians began to digest the outcome of an election that delivered the country’s most rightwing government since the end of the second world war.

Final results on Monday gave the coalition control of both houses of parliament with 44% of the vote and confirmed the swing in the balance of power in the Italian far-right towards Meloni after her party made spectacular gains in the League’s northern strongholds of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.

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Italy elections: exit polls point to victory for coalition led by far-right Giorgia Meloni

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The leader of the Brothers of Italy party appears set to become country’s first female PM

Italy election results – Live

A coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy is set to form the country’s most rightwing government since the end of the second world war after exit polls gave it a clear majority.

With full results due on Monday, the far-right party leader is set to become Italy’s first female prime minister – and a model for nationalist parties across Europe as she heads one of the EU’s six original member states.

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Italian election 2022: live official results

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Early official results from the Italian interior ministry confirm exit poll suggestions that the rightwing coalition led by Brothers of Italy could win enough seats to form a government

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The vote was triggered when the Five Star Movement abruptly withdrew its support for Mario Draghi’s technocratic government, but an election was due next year in any event.

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Pope urges Italians to help migrants as far right tipped to win election

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Francis said migrants and refugees should be able to ‘live in peace and with dignity’ at open-air mass in Matera

Pope Francis has urged Italians to help migrants as voting proceeded in a general election widely expected to bring an anti-immigration rightwing coalition into power.

Speaking at the end of an open-air mass in the southern Italian city of Matera, the pope recalled that Sunday coincided with the Catholic church’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees. “Migrants are to be welcomed, accompanied, promoted and integrated,” he told the assembled faithful.

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Italy: internal rivalry could threaten the stability of a Meloni-led coalition

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Matteo Salvini has described Giorgia Meloni as a ‘pain in the ass’, while Silvio Berlusconi is rumoured to be unsupportive

Giorgia Meloni has spent three decades fighting her way to the top of Italian politics. But despite her political prowess, the 45-year-old from Rome, whose strong will and determination has drawn comparisons to Margaret Thatcher, has limited government experience.

If Meloni is confirmed as prime minister over the next few weeks, she will be in charge of steering Italy through one of its most delicate periods, dealing with mammoth challenges from the energy crisis and high inflation to a possible recession and a winter wave of Covid-19.

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Brothers of Italy suspends candidate after online post praising Hitler found

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Election candidate for the rightwing party had called Hitler a ‘great statesman’ in a 2014 Facebook post

The far-right Brothers of Italy party has suspended an election candidate after it was discovered he had praised Adolf Hitler and described the group’s leader, Giorgia Meloni, as a “modern fascist”.

Calogero Pisano, a coordinator for Brothers of Italy in the Sicilian province of Agrigento, wrote on Facebook in 2014 that the Nazi leader was “a great statesman”.

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