On Sunday… Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni delivered a speech at Atreju, the flagship event for her party’s youth wing, Fratelli d’Italia.
- From the stage at Circus Maximus in Rome, Meloni outlined an ambitious political program for 2025 while addressing her party’s devoted followers with a rallying cry for unity and purpose.
- In addition to discussing domestic matters, she also touched on international issues, reaffirming her alignment with conservative leaders on a global scale.
Unity and reform. Meloni called her party and coalition partners to take action, urging them to focus on what they can do for Italians instead of what the party can do for them, emphasising themes of sacrifice and collective mission.
- She stressed the importance of staying united until the end and laid out a reformist agenda for the upcoming year.
- This agenda includes constitutional changes, such as implementing a prime ministerial system, as well asfiscal and judicial reforms, and making progress towards regional autonomy.
- While boasting about her government’s accomplishments over the past two years, Meloni acknowledged that there is still more work to be done.
- “We have exceeded our adversaries’ expectations but not our own demands,” she stated, urging her audience to maintain pure hearts and strong determination for the challenges ahead.
Breaking barriers in the EU. Meloni turned her attention to Europe, celebrating the appointment of Raffaele Fitto as Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms at the European Commission.
- Hailing the achievement as a historic milestone, she remarked, “This breaks another glass ceiling,” referencing his status as a member of Italy’s conservative bloc.
- Meloni also marked her official handover of leadership of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party to Mateusz Morawiecki, the former Polish prime minister.
- Morawiecki, speaking at Atreju, praised Meloni as a “strong leader paving the way for a new Europe” and emphasised the need to curb Brussels’ centralisation of power while addressing economic and geopolitical challenges.
Waiting for The Donald. International attention was piqued by Meloni’s congratulations to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whom she called a “loyal ally.”
- In her address, she noted that “Italy and the United States will always be allies, regardless of who governs,” adding, “As a woman of the right, I am pleased to work with American conservatives.”
- As CNN noted, Meloni “could bridge the gap between Trump and Europe” as Italy would be home to one of the most stable governments in Europe.
- In an interview with Libero newspaper, Argentinian President Javier Milei, an international star guest at Atreju, stressed the importance of a “right-wing international,” featuring Meloni, Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
This week’s agenda. Meloni’s week ahead underscores her dual focus on domestic and international priorities. On Wednesday, she will travel to Brussels for the EU-Western Balkans Summit, followed by her first European Council meeting of the new legislative term.
- Discussions are expected to cover the war in Ukraine, the Middle East crisis, migration, and EU enlargement—a “geopolitical investment,” as EU President Antonio Costa put it in his invitation.
- Later in the week, Meloni heads to Lapland for the inaugural North-South Summit in Saariselkä.
- There, she will join Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to discuss security, migration, and defence in the shadow of Russian aggression.
