Italy’s upcoming parliamentary elections are poised to bring about a sea change in the leadership of the Magic Boot, which for the first time could well be governed by a woman — Giorgia Meloni.   Meloni is leading a coalition of parties on the right, espouses a pragmatic, pro-Italian patriotism that is not beholden to Brussels.

Is this rising star a stateswoman or an opportunist? According to some left-wing critics, Ms. Meloni has all the makings of a budding Mussolini — a far-right rabble rouser with delusions of grandeur. 

Such pundits fear that Ms. Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia — Brothers of Italy — will resurrect the ethos of Il Duce exactly 100 years after the March on Rome, depicting her as a sub-rosa autocrat who will undermine the rights of minorities and the LGBTQ community.

Yet she has explicitly repudiated extremism of any sort — especially the scourge of antisemitism.  

As she stated urbi et orbi (‘to city and world’) in a recent (multi-lingual) video to the international press: “The Italian right has consigned fascism to history for decades, unambiguously condemning the deprivation of democracy and the infamous anti-Jewish laws.”  

More level-headed commentators acknowledge Ms. Meloni’s political skills in navigating the hurly-burly of Italian politics.

At a 2019 rally at Rome, she announced: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian.”

Still, while underscoring her cultural bona fides, Ms. Meloni has expressed her fealty to the European project, Atlanticism, a market economy, and, yes, freedom. (Lest we forget, she supported Prime Minister Draghi’s firm stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.)

Following the resignation of Mr. Draghi, naysayers around the globe foresaw an inferno of instability overtaking Italy.  

In bemoaning the premier’s resignation, a former prime minister and current EU economy commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said “a perfect storm” could lie ahead for the nation.

From mitigating lo ‘spread’ — the difference between Germany’s 10-year bond yields and those of Italy — to bolstering Italian economic growth to resolving the Covid crisis, Mr. Draghi’s track record won kudos far and wide.  

However, “Super Mario” Draghi was an unelected technocrat whose tenure was due to end in early 2023 in any event.

Italy is a serious nation with a sophisticated, well-educated electorate — yet when it comes to Rome, the bureaucrats in Brussels tend to distrust the principle of popular sovereignty. This belief that the ultimate authority of a nation resides with its people is foundational to Ms. Meloni’s worldview.  

Ms. Meloni has explained that “there is no true sovereignty without a defense of traditional values — because the identity of a people rests on them.”    

More than any other Italian politician in recent memory, Ms. Meloni has accentuated the importance of la Patria. In fact, her party’s very name — Fratelli d’Italia — is derived from the opening lines of the national anthem. 

But Ms. Meloni’s leadership isn’t based on opportunistic populism. Rather, it is predicated on an ideal of national union that predates even the Risorgimento of Cavour, Mazzini, and Garibaldi, all the way back to Rome’s victory over the Gauls at the Battle of Telamon, 222 years before Christ, forging one unified Italy.

Unlike the left-of-center Democratic Party of Enrico Letta, Ms. Meloni espouses a pragmatic, pro-Italian patriotism that is not beholden to Brussels. 

Ms. Meloni’s appeal is based on her problem-solving, no-nonsense approach to governance. She has vowed to renegotiate European treaties, raise defense spending, trim a bloated bureaucracy, increase R&D, and cut taxes. 

If, as appears possible, her coalition garners a two-thirds parliamentary majority on September 25, it will be a game changer for Italy. A Prime Minister Meloni and her coalition partners could seek a constitutional amendment establishing a directly elected Italian presidency.

In proposing just such an amendment during a prior legislative session before the election, Ms. Meloni envisioned a presidential republic akin to the French model.

Opponents voiced alarmist fears that a president elected to a five-year term by voters could turn authoritarian. Although this reform measure did not pass then, it has become a very real possibility now. 

According to the last polls before the electoral blackout, the right-wing coalition headed by Ms. Meloni’s party is set to win in a landslide on September 25, Bloomberg News reports.

History hinges on such tipping points.

With a win on that scale, Ms. Meloni could usher in an era of national renewal and political stability for Italy — and the West.

Indeed, as the female head of government of the EU’s third-largest power, she would lead an Italy finally able to fully assert its influence on the world stage. -RAI