Kingmaker How will Meloni use her growing influence on EU politics?

Italy's far-right leader has so far been a model European. But this weekend's EU elections may reveal her hand

- Jon Henley

When she became Italy's prime minister in October 2022, Giorgia Meloni looked like Brussels' worst nightmare. Until then, the fiery leader of the Brothers of Italy - a party with neofascist roots - had seemed anything but EU-friendly. For years, railing against the bloc had been Meloni's stock in trade. "Bring down this European Union!" she urged the 2019 conservative CPAC conference in the US.

As she took up office, far-right parties across Europe hailed her victory, expecting the new leader in Rome to promote their nationalist agenda and join the likes of Hungary's Viktor Orbán in battling Brussels bureaucracy. To the surprise of many, she didn't. Meloni has proved, at least superficially, to be a constructive European, partly because Italy needed billions in postCovid EU recovery funds, and partly (perhaps) because she is playing a longer game.