How extremist is Italy's designated far-right government? | DW News

Italy's new right-wing leaders are on course to win a clear majority in both houses of Parliament the alliance of parties from the writers led by Georgia Maloney who's likely to become Italy's first woman prime minister and its first far-right leader since the second world war she's promising to restore national pride ancestral work to bring Unity rather than division her government will have to tackle a raft of pressing economic problems after she made election promises to ease energy costs and cut taxes it was a night of Triumph for Georgia Maloney [Applause] if we are called on to govern this country we will do so for everyone we will govern with the aim of uniting people and seeking to make them more united rather than divided on Monday morning Italian newspapers were emphatic on the sheer scale of her victory with one saying she had taken Italy near final results show the right-wing Alliance of Maloney's Brothers of Italy Matteo savini's legger and Silvio bellisconi's Forza Italia winning around 44 of the vote far ahead of its left-wing Rivals with Maloney's party alone winning some 26 percent but with turnout down to a historic low of just 64 in Rome reactions to Maloney's win were mixed I don't follow her much honestly but I prefer the Coalition that her party is part of I'm not happy I didn't vote for her but it's democracy she has to prove that she can live up to the role and prove she can represent all Italians both those who voted for right-wing parties but especially those who didn't while Maloney may have been all smiles on Election night there's likely weeks of talks ahead before a new government is formed if Maloney and her right-wing allies do end up in power they'll be confronted with crises from the get-go with Italy struggling with soaring living costs and Europe facing down Russian aggression I'm now joined by Toby as Barclay is a member of the German Parliament for the green party and member of the foreign policy uh committee now again a right-wing party has won an election in an EU countries but in her campaign Maloney's softened her until you start significantly so uh do you believe her well I don't think it's the right time to realize the rise of right-wing extremism so um I do not believe you're on an ideological scale but I would also say that in those times uh when on with the Russian attack on the Ukraine it needs to be clear and apparently it is even clear to right-wing extremists that we only stand a chance on all the global issues as European Union if we join forces so I don't really believe her that she changed her mind but I do believe that the current situation in the world is forcing her to not push that part of her agenda at the first point but as I said I don't think there is a reason to well feel at least at the moment okay but do you think that Maloney will align Italy with Hungary for example in Poland to tip the balance in EU decision making to the right um yes definitely at certain points I think um it is going to be really interesting how the Coalition uh that probably is going to be formed in Italy is going to behave regarding the Russian sanctions and the Russian uh war in Ukraine but on many other issues I'm pretty sure that they will join um the right wings uh in in like throwing stones into into the EU or trying to do that but on the other hand also and I think uh Hungary and um Poland are seeing that right now we do not accept that I mean there is in a matter of there is a rule of law a common rule of law we agreed on and this is the responsibility to every government to actually stick to it now it seems that right-wing parties are on the rise across the EU are you worried about that of course I'm worried about worried about that I'm worried about their their system power but I'm also worried about it that we are only or not we as the greens as Progressive I think we've been talking about that for quite a while that we need to wake up that there are certain powers on the Rise um but for example the conservatives which I I believe they really have a huge responsibility to to back against this rise of right-wing extremists for that I really hope that it's the last time they see something like that and that it's a wake-up call and well right Wings will cease power if we just play them down we need to take them serious and we need to really really have a front against that um against them and their their reputation yes you say left left-wing parties like yours the the German greens need need to wake up but what does that mean what do you need to do no that's that's what I meant I think we as a society together we need to wake up that there are people on the rise who have a huge take on populism and have not really the interest of our Europe at heart but rather of like small groups who are not very inclusive often now of course Maloney said that she will and I think we've been warning about it but um it's sometimes apparently I would I think it seemed like we were warning about it and people seemed to think we were warning about it because it wasn't in that it was good just going into another Direction and we wanted our Europe to go but I think it is about more and I really would rather put the conservatives um well into position that they they really need to take their responsibility there are people we can hardly argue with because we have a different idea of how things are supposed to go and that's fine that's a democracy what it is all about but um I think think it's really important that that our call for Swift and hard and harsh words and action against right-wing extremists it's not about only only about political ideological approaches or whatsoever but it's really about saving and defending our democracy and I think that's something we can all agree on and I really hope that it's a wake-up call for those who believe it's not their job to do but in fact it is a member of the German Parliament for the green party thank you very much thanks a lot well tomorrow this we can now speak to Teresa Cora tell us she's the program manager for the European Council on Foreign Relations and joins us from Rome now Melania and her party have never been in power before and ideologically they have roots in Italy's neo-fascist movement why did Italians turn to them in such large numbers well thank you so much for the invitation uh well I think that the biggest factor for success is that in the last four years she always seated at the opposition she was never a member of any of the government that were formed after the 2018 elections she always stayed at the opposition and during the last government of Mario Brothers she was the only opposition party in the parliament this gave her the opportunity and the possibility as the only opposition leader to always say her view and to present her view have the quite opposite if compared to her competitors in the central right scenario namely for cetalia and the league so she had 18 months to build her strategy to build a concrete view of how she sees Italian Europe how she sees Europe and on the other side she really benefited from the fact that her allies namely were really having not the best times in their political career Teresa you mentioned Europe there George Maloney has a long record of bashing the European Union assuming she becomes a prime minister what should we expect from Italy in terms of EU policy I think that at the beginning she will have a verification approach toward every European things every European this year this because her party is quite domestically focused she will need some time to have a view on how to position herself as a European leader I mean her Victory is really a success but at the same times this can be really the first but also the last opportunity for her to be a credible interlocutor in Europe and of course she has to fill the madibragi Legacy if till yesterday we had an Italian leader able to dialogue with Paris and Berlin at the same level a leader who was able to push some procreate ideas on after Russia decided to in invade Ukraine now Georgia Maloney is an activity difficult situation she doesn't have the same relation with Schultz and macron she in the past she had rather chosen to build stronger alliances with other one for example and feeders and now with the pis in Poland and Kaczynski so she knows needs to understand if she wants to continue on this path of building strong relation with the most your Skeptics parties in Europe or rather she might want to be a kind of moderate conservative leader able to dialogue also with the Paris now Italian governments are notoriously short-lived most of belly lasted a year can we expect that maloney-led government if it actually comes to power to be any more stable so if you listen this morning to the Declaration of the winners let's say they all said that finally Charlie is entering a stable area of five years uh I'm not sure this is going to to be the case not because Maloney doesn't want this but the main challenge will come from the power of balance inside the Coalition why I'm saying this we have salvini who is Among The Biggest Losers of this election the same applies to the rusconi while Georgia Maloney is the real and only big winner this means that the Coalition has already some issues regarding the power of balance in and the dialogue between the three leaders so there are already some stress tests that the Coalition needs to deal with first of all the formation of the government being Georgia Maloney the first leader this implies that she will probably keep for herself the most important Ministries then we have them and very important flow to be approved in December which is the budget law that with the recovery funds uh implementation is going to be even more difficult Teresa oh I'm sorry I think I have to interrupt you there Teresa Corolla program manager for the European Council on Foreign Relations thank you very much Teresa thank you well for more on the Italian election I'm joined Now by Katarina barley she's a German EU lawmaker and a vice president of the European Union Parliament thanks for being with us now you've compared Giorgio Maloney to hungary's illiberal leader Victor Orban and former U.S president Donald Trump do you think she will pursue similar policies if she becomes prime minister of Italy as expected well we will see but what she said before the elections um doesn't give us much hope she has uh already announced to support Victor Orban and to join him and uh Mr morabezi from Poland in uh fighting for uh Europe of the Patriots which of course means more egoistic politics from the capitals from the member states and they might be joined by Sweden so this is not a good development for the European Union now Georgia Maloney softened her traditional anti-eu stance significantly in this election campaign are you convinced by that I'm not convinced yet of course if she becomes prime minister she will have the benefit of the doubt um but we expect her to be um to be quite conservative on economic and financial policies but to be ultra-conservative um too populous when it comes to for example human rights rights of minorities women's rights but also fueling this sort of patriotism that is one against the other that we are already seeing as I said in Poland in Hungary and and some other member states and this is really nothing that brings Europe together what we need right now in this time of crisis now you mentioned that you're concerned that Maloney will align Italy with Hungary and Poland there are concerns that that could tip the balance of power in EU decision making to the right what concrete uh impact do you think that could have on EU decision making well the EU the EU can only work if you try to try common solutions that that fit everybody that means compromise and our experience with this sort of government is that they do not engage into compromises at all they use unanimity principle with which we don't have at every decision but in some very important decisions they use this um to Blackmail and to um to serve their own interests if that happens once if that happens twice you can live with it but if that becomes a common form of policy making in the European Union then that is not going to be a union anymore then it's going to be a club of of a selfish egoists well the European Union is not as unified as it once was with the with Britain having having pulled itself out you happen to be in the UK right now attending a conference of the opposition labor party How concerned are you about it how Italy will position itself with respect to relations to the UK well we unfortunately see um the government in the UK um also drifting more and more towards populism by attacking public media especially the the BBC by attacking independent judges by high-level corruption um this sort of development so um I think Georgia Maloney is still a different category um but we are seeing worrying developments um also what comes concerning freedom of press and and rule of law in the UK so I don't think they will be allies in this sense I hope not um but it is altogether a shift towards right-wing populism this I think we we have to acknowledge okay we've been talking very much in general terms but the European Union right now is dealing with a war next door in Ukraine and with a serious energy crisis how do you see this change of government uh coming up in Italy affecting those uh situations but first of all the war in Ukraine it is interesting that the three parties who who created this this Coalition two of those leaders uh salvini and balusconi are are known to be putting fanboys um whilst Georgia Maloney is on more on the Ukrainian side so that would be interesting to watch how Italy um will act in this conflict also when it comes to support in in defense purposes when it comes to um to the European Union again in energy we now need solidarity between um between the member states we have very different situations concerning energy Supply in the different countries so we need to help those who are most dependent um on on the Russian sources I think of Bulgaria for example or Romania I wonder if Italy under this new government is still willing to show solidarity or just uh to to grab as much as they can for themselves Katarina barley vice president of the EU Parliament thank you very much for talking with us very welcome so a convincing victory for the right-wing parties in Italy DW correspondent Julia saldelli is in Rome she spoke to a senior member of Georgia maroney's Brothers of Italy party about their win I'm here with Elena lucaselli she is a member of parliament for Fratelli d'Italia the party of Georgia Meloni Miss Lucas Georgia Maloney has said that she wants to govern for the entirety of Italy for all of the population but looking at some of frodelid Italia's policies for example some non-progressive policies looking at migration or LGBT rights or abortion how is she going to unite the country with these topics that are so divisive well first of all uh these are not our priority right now because uh the economy award that we are leaving right now it's very tough and I think our priority will be different in you know right away uh after that I think that um it's not that we are now Progressive uh we are conservative which is a different way to look uh at our country and at the world but if you look at Italian population is conservative is not um is is not a population that does a war for immigrant or other other topics so what we'll do it's first of all give back to people the dream to have a country that can lead in Europe and in the rest of the world that's our goal uh speaking about being a conservative party uh the party has a history in post-fascism if we look back to decades and there are concerns even though Georgia Maloney has distanced herself from this past that there really hasn't been much change on that front and that there's still some radical elements within the party is this concern legitimate no it's not if you look at our percentage fratellite Italia took 26 percent of the vote in Italy so unless you want to say that all the Italians are fascists or most of them it's it's something that is not true now we we are not that we are a new way to think at the right uh politics and that's it is there's no relationship between Fratelli and Italia and fascism or post fashion but there have been some cases recently in the party of members of the party who have for example praised Hitler or other members of the party who have had really tough and resistances against Instagram against migrants for example on social media how can one say that there are no more radical elements when we have examples of them well stupid people are all around the world so we can now control what people do or say on social even when a party is so big the important things is that we don't have any institutional representative that think in that way and that's the different we cannot control every single Italian and what they do uh looking at Europe um Georgia Meloni has moved away from a Euro skeptic approach and said that she is a supporter of Europe and that she wants to work together with Europe but when we look at certain issues for example the attitude towards Hungary uh your party in the European Parliament has voted in support of Urban's policies recently is there a risk that there are going to be issues with Europe going forward no I think that we need to start the right way to talk with Europe which was something that we didn't do in the past years so we need to have a new way to think at Europe and that's our goal and that is in relation with Italy not with other country we will lead this country and we have to be focused on our country and how to protect our interests in Europe something that the left party until now didn't do um Urban and the attitude of your party and the other parties in the Coalition for example towards Hungary is just one of the issues where fratellite Italian its Coalition partners aren't always on the same page we've seen for example looking at Matos alvini that he's known sometimes to rock the boat how is Georgia Meloni going to keep the Coalition together to make this government last well you know when we vote in the parliament at the end uh the center right was just one rock and we vote all the same so you know sometimes when you talk with journalists and you you say some things that are in your mind it could not be understanded in the right way but then the vote speak for you and for your party and the center right always vote in the same way in the parliament so I think we will not have any type of issue thank you very much [Music] DW's Julius cordelli there in Rome now for reaction outside Italy I'm joined by our chief political correspondent Melinda crane here in Berlin and DW's Mark sander in Brussels hello to you both Melinda what has the German government been saying about Georgia Maloney's victory it has said that it wants to wait for the final results before issuing an official response and in officially the uh the reaction was restrained to put it politely the Chancellor's Deputy spokesperson said this morning that Berlin expects Italy to remain a quote-unquote very europe-friendly country with very Europe friendly citizens a finance ministry spokesperson said that Berlin's expecting the new Italian government to continue to respect the stability pact that sets the fiscal rules for the Eurozone and if you listen to uh reactions from other politicians including politicians of the governing parties that is certainly the utmost concern that many have Germany's foreign former Justice Minister Katarina balai for example who is now Vice President of the EU Parliament said that Maloney's Victory represents a very real threat to constructive coop operation in Europe while Green Party leaders both in Brussels and in Berlin say they fear the new Italian government might be not only anti-european but also pro-poutine the one party in Germany that is definitely celebrating is the far-right alternative for Germany afd they said that with this Victory and the Victory of a right-wing party in Sweden that left-wing government in Europe is now very yesterday Max mixed reactions in Brussels and across the European Union I would imagine absolutely correct Terry so as you can imagine it was the the far right opposition parties in Spain and in France for example the Vox party and the I guess you know that we're among the first to congratulate Maloney for her election Victory as were leaders of Euro skeptic governments such as Hungary and Poland that were in a celebratory mood so you have that one camp that is celebrating that's for sure but the overall sentiment here in Brussels and across the European Union is more a worried one is more one of concern there are fears that Georgia Maloney will roll back on Democratic freedoms within her country and at the same time that she will make work cooperation partnership in Brussels and in the EU a lot more difficult in future Italy has been a safe bet in the past has been working very well with other European nations Maloney has campaigned on Italy first on nationalist principles so um people here are very worried how this is going to play out now the commission itself did not comment on the election Victory by principle it does not they only said they hope that there will be a constructive relationship with Italy but let me remind you commission president oz in officially kind of positioned herself a few days ago when she said quote unquote we have the tool to deal with countries that don't respect EU values hinting at Italy hinting at Georgia Maloney so um yeah you can imagine uh here in Brussels they will be watching very closely what happens next Max Chanda in Brussels and Melinda crane here in Berlin thanks very much to you both

Channel: DW News

Views: 79,386

Keywords: DW News, italy, italy news, italy election, meloni

Id: 4S89Iuz1I7E

Length: 27min 48sec (1668 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 26 2022