First it was Russia sanctions and now the budget deficit — just weeks before Italian elections, splits are emerging between the two far-right parties tipped to win power.
Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy is leading opinion polls, putting her on course to take office after September 25 as part of a coalition that includes Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant League. The pair are campaigning on a shared populist, eurosceptic, hard-right agenda, but in recent days have been at odds on how to respond to the energy crisis gripping Europe.
Salvini has called for more help for companies and workers facing soaring electricity and gas bills this winter, either at a European or Italian level — even if it means borrowing more. “I prefer to put 30 billion in debt on the table today, than put 100 (billion) in two months time to pay for a million unemployed or redundant people,” he told Radio Capital Tuesday. He noted this put him at odds with outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi and also Meloni, who has sought to reassure international investors that the eurozone’s third largest economy will be safe in her hands. “Going into further debt is the last resort, because Italy is already indebted out of control,” the Brothers of Italy leader said last week. Salvini, who in the past was open in his admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been critical of Western sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, saying they are not working.
He has condemned Russia’s actions, but said Tuesday: “The sanctions have been in operation for seven months, and we are on our knees, not Putin — and the war continues.” “Let’s go ahead with sanctions, yes, but Europe must protect entrepreneurs, workers, traders,” he said, noting how the EU had mobilised billions of euros for countries — including Italy — hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Meloni has strongly supported Ukraine and sanctions against Russia and on Sunday emphasised the importance of holding the line. “A serious nation that wants to defend its interests must take a credible position,” she said.
Salvini’s League party won almost 18 percent of the vote in 2018 elections that brought him to power. But he has been losing support to Meloni for months, polling at just over half her tally of around 24 percent. In July the League helped trigger this month’s elections by withdrawing from Draghi’s government, alongside other parties.
Draghi had led a national unity coalition since February 2021, including all the main parties except Meloni’s. Draghi’s government has already allocated 52 billion euros to help households and businesses deal with soaring inflation in the past year and is debating another package, according to media reports.