This Country Is On The Verge Of Becoming A Nationalist Government

Can Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni join hands to form the first fully National Populist government in Western Europe?

Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini has called on the country’s prime minister to recognize that the government’s ruling coalition had collapsed, demanding a vote of no confidence and snap elections.

Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the National Populist Brothers of Italy party, has said that new elections could bring about a government set on making the “politically incorrect reforms that Italy needs”. She also believes sovereignist alliance between her party and Salvini’s League “can last five years”, Secolo d’Italia reports.

Following Salvini’s League party blocking an expensive high-speed rail project, the coalition has been effectively rendered over, reported Italian newspaper Il Giornale.

In recent months, cooperation between unlikely coalition partners – the National Populist League and the leftist populist Five Star Movement (MS5) – has all but disappeared, with differences in their policies and political philosophies becoming increasingly obvious.

Popular support for the League has surged over the past year, with the newest polls put the party at 39 percent, while support for M5S has been halved to just 15 percent.

Salvini has mentioned that his party would run for elections alone, and if it fell short of the 40 percent majority needed to govern that it would “choose a travel companion”. The League’s most likely coalition partner is seen by the Brothers of Italy.

When asked during an interview with Century Italy whether she thinks her party can form a ruling coalition with Matteo Salvini’s League, Giorgia Meloni replied:

“I hope so. The analysis made from votes at the European level as well as the latest polls say the League and Brothers of Italy together would have a large majority in both chambers today. We have our different feelings, but on the big issues, from the economy to immigration to the family, we have common values. And in Europe we were the only two Italian parties to vote against the Von der Leyen, Merkel and Macron wanted by the head of the EU Commission. Anything can happen and we are ready for any eventuality. But an alliance between us and the League is natural and would allow us to build a cohesive government, able to last five years and to give the answers that Italians await.”