ROME –
When Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came to power in 2022, far-right parties across Europe cheered her victory, expecting the fiery new leader in Rome to pursue a nationalist agenda and fight Brussels bureaucracy.
But instead of clashing with the European Union’s elites, Meloni surprised friend and foe by working closely with them, presenting herself as a bridge between the mainstream center-right and her own arch-conservative camp, which had previously been shunned.
Her influence could increase in the wake of next month’s EU elections if, as she has hinted, she backs centre-right Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a second term.
