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Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni crowned Europe's most powerful person

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

11 Dec, 2024

"Strongman" Meloni tops Politico rankings.

Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni has been crowned "Europe's most powerful person" in the Class of 2025 rankings by US political newspaper Politico.Charting her rise to power in less than a decade, Politico says that Meloni has gone from being dismissed as "an ultranationalist kook" to establishing herself as a figure with whom Brussels, "and now Washington", can do business.

"Who do you call if you want to speak to Europe?" - Politico asks - "If you’re Elon Musk — the world’s richest man and a key adviser to United States President-elect Donald Trump — the number you dial belongs to Giorgia Meloni."

Underlining her early activism in neo-fascist circles, Politico states that Meloni has been on the "forefront of a wave that is dragging European politics toward the far right", while also tacking to the centre.

Labelling Meloni "The Strongman", Politico recalls that when taking office two years ago the prime minister insisted on the masculine form of her official title - Il Presidente del Consiglio - emphasising her ability to exert "tremendous power at a moment when the continent lacks powerful centrists capable of taking her on."

Despite her government's introduction of controversial policies affecting migration and LGBTQ+ rights, leaders in the EU have accepted Meloni "as the palatable representative of the ever-more-radical zeitgeist blossoming on both sides of the Atlantic."

Meloni, 47, has consolidated her government "as one of the most stable to have existed in postwar Italy", Politico writes, hailing her "carefully cultivated, no-nonsense appearance" as a contributing factor to this image of stability.

Highlighting her tough approach, Politico recalls an incident in May involving another straight-talking Italian politician, Vincenzo De Luca, the centre-left governor of the southern Campania region.

After De Luca was recorded referring to her as a “stronza” (“bitch”), the prime minister greeted the opposition politician at an event in Naples by stating sternly, “I'm that bitch, Meloni. How are you?”

Noting her "complicated relationship" with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Politico states that Meloni is benefiting from a "vacuum of power" in Paris and Berlin, leaving her room to push forward her policies.

Across the Atlantic meanwhile, Politico says that Meloni is "seemingly adored by billionaire Musk" and that Trump’s reelection stands to give her "even more momentum".

Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico / Shutterstock.com.