Brothers of Italy / Fratelli d'Italia
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni'sfar-right Brothers of Italy won the most votes in this weekend's EU parliamentary election, according to exit polls 09 June 2024. State broadcaster RAI said Brothers of Italy won 26-30% of the vote. The center-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) came second with 21-25% of the vote and the 5-Star Movement won 10-14%, according to the same exit poll. The conservative Forza Italia party was projected to win 8.5-10% and the far-right League could win 8-10%. Meloni governed in coalition with Forza Italia and the League. Turnout was expected to be around 50%, a record low in Italy.
Brothers of Italy traces its roots to neo-fascism after 1945. The Brothers of Italy was formed in 2012, but traces its origins right back to the end of World War II. In 1946, a group of Mussolini’s allies – most of whom had been members of the Italian Social Republic, the final incarnation of Mussolini’s Italian Fascist regime – founded the neofascist Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano, or MSI).
In 1995, MSI merged with more mainstream right-wing elements to become the National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale, or AN), which publicly distanced itself from fascism. AN was absorbed into Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom party in 2009, but in 2012 a breakaway group formed mainly of former AN leaders – including current FdI leader Giorgia Meloni – left to found Brothers of Italy. These origins, and the fact that Brothers of Italy espouses far-right ideologies while rejecting the label of fascism, means the party is often described by news outlets (including this one) as ‘post-fascist’.
Brothers of Italy is a Movement that aims to implement a political program which, based on the principles of popular sovereignty, freedom, democracy, justice, social solidarity, merit and fiscal equity, is inspired by a spiritual vision of life and the values of the national, liberal and popular tradition, and participates in the construction of a Europe of Peoples.
Many of the party’s policies are pro-natalist and aimed at combatting Italy’s plummeting birthrate, which Meloni has described as “a true emergency”. They include increased child benefits; reducing VAT rates on nappies, baby bottles and formula; free childcare provision, and incentivising employers to hire new mothers.
The Fratelli d'Italia Movement promotes the peaceful coexistence of peoples, states, ethnic groups and religious confessions while respecting sovereignty, independence and national unity. The Fratelli d'Italia Movement carries out its political program through the action of its adherents, its supporters, its sympathizers and all those who identify with the projects of the Movement for participation in administration and government of the nation.
For Fratelli d'Italia, "anyone who does business and creates wealth is a resource to be valued, not an enemy to be fought with bureaucracy and tax burden. For us thework expresses the dignity of the citizen and is a value to be protected,not a concession from the state. For us the freedom and rights of peopleprevail over any ideological vision. For us, respect for the environment and theeconomic growth are not antithetical values, but complementary worldswhich can and must find a home in an idea of compatible development. For us, the natural resources and artistic heritage of the nation areassets to be preserved and valued. For us, the family is the founding community of society, a sacred asset to be protected, not an old and supear to be killed...."
"Italy must return to stand its head held high in theinternational genders, as a full member of the G7 and as a founding stateof the EU and NATO, after too many years of marginalization and im-placed by the Italian left in government to please the European partners."
In the past, the Italian far right has had close links to Moscow. However, Meloni repeatedly stated her support for Ukraine. “Our standing in the Western field is crystal clear, as we have demonstrated once again by condemning — without ifs and buts — Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine and by helping, from the opposition, to strengthen Italy's position in European and international forums,” Meloni said in a campaign video on 10 August 2022. This puts her at odds with its right-wing coalition partner the League party, whose leader Matteo Salvini has called on the EU to “rethink” its sanctions on Russia on multiple occasions. Giorgia Meloni declared that the formation of the government would be compromised if it had to include those who called the Russian invasion an “operation to replace Zelensky’s government with decent people”.
Meloni implied that her party is not dissimilar to the UK Conservatives or the US Republican party. In practice, its sympathies tend much further to the right: Meloni has said she “gets on very well” with Hungary's Viktor Orban, and spoke at a rally held by the far-right Spanish party Vox.
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