Italy’s populist parties – the Five Star Movement and Lega – converge on a shared stance on the Ukraine conflict, echoing US President Trump. Their leaders champion positions that downplay the feasibility of a military victory over Russia
Populist convergence. The future of the war in Ukraine is drawing Italy’s populist parties closer together.
- The Five Star Movement and Lega – led by Giuseppe Conte and Matteo Salvini, respectively – are now converging on a common stance echoing that of US President Donald Trump.
A step back. The two parties once governed together for just over a year between 2018 and 2019 in a populist, Eurosceptic administration led by Conte.
- That government signed a memorandum of understanding with China on the Belt and Road Initiative – a deal that was later not renewed by the current Meloni government after its five-year term.
- Today, Lega is part of the right-wing majority backing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, while the Five Star Movement, positioned on the left and occasionally aligned with the Democratic Party (PD) at a regional level, faces difficulties forging a national alliance with Elly Schlein’s formation.
Trump’s influence. Conte and Salvini have publicly embraced President Trump’s view on the war in Ukraine.
- Salvini commented, “I have enormous respect for Trump, who in a few weeks is achieving more than [Joe] Biden did in four years – for the benefit of the West, and consequently for us too.”
- Conte praised Trump’s blunt approach, arguing: “Trump unmasks the Western warmongering propaganda on Ukraine and speaks a truth that we in the Five Star Movement have been voicing for three years, alongside military experts – that militarily defeating Russia was unrealistic.”
- One might note that Conte seems to have overlooked his earlier vote to send arms to Ukraine at the onset of the conflict.
A voice from Dems. Senator Alessandro Alfieri of the Democratic Party, speaking to our sister website Formiche, observed that the populist tendencies of Lega and the Five Star Movement are now reflected in overlapping positions.
- However, he warned that this convergence risks marginalising the fundamental issue: the defence of the values on which liberal democracies stand.
- Recently, discussions within the PD have even suggested boycotting the demonstration organised by Conte against the Meloni government, with suspicions that the protest may also carry an anti-Ukraine message.
