Brothers of Italy at 30%, Giorgia Meloni at 46%, the government at 45% and the centre-right victorious in 10 out of 11 regions: these are the numbers the Prime Minister can boast of two years after taking office. Since 2010, a prime minister has not enjoyed similar consensus two years after his victory in the general elections. We are obviously talking about Silvio Berlusconi before he was hit by the financial crisis and the well-known judicial events that forced him to resign in 2011. At the time the Cavaliere, thanks to the appreciation obtained with the famous ‘Onna’s speech’, left victorious at the Regionals in Piedmont, Lazio, Campania and Calabria.

Melons like Berlusconi? Not exactly

Any comparison between Berlusconi’s leadership and that of Meloni would be inappropriate, but the excellent result obtained at the European Championships and the unexpected victory of the centre-right in Liguria tell us that Italians still trust her. But not only that.

If Mario Monti and Mario Draghi initially had very high consensus because the economic situation required Italians to rely on technicians and if Giuseppe Conte sadly benefited due to Covid, Meloni holds out because, just like Berlusconi, he has had (at least so far) the ability to keep rather quarrelsome allies at bay. The leader of FdI has overcome embarrassing situations such as those involving the ministers of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano and Alessandro Giuli, and before them the resignations of Augusta Montaruli and Vittorio Sgarbi, respectively as undersecretary of the MIUR and undersecretary of Culture.

Scandals and investigations

Then, the investigation against the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanché and the statements of Giovanni Donzelli on the case of the terrorist Alfredo Cospito. And then there were the resignations of some spokespersons both in the Lazio Region and within the government due to old posts with a vaguely nostalgic flavor towards the Twenty Years. And again the deputy Emanuele Pozzolo who celebrated New Year’s Eve with a “bang” in the true sense of the word. And, finally, the Fanpage journalistic investigation called ‘Melonian Youth’ and the arrest of the president of Liguria Giovanni Toti. A series of “cases”, “scandals” and “investigations” listed in a haphazard manner that would have undermined the consensus of any leader, but not that of Meloni. Is it the fault of an opposition that is still too quarrelsome and divided or of allies that are still too weak to undermine his leadership? Probably yes, but not only that.

Melons against owls

In these two years, Meloni has managed to deny the prophecies of the left-wing “owls” regarding an alleged international isolation that the sovereignist center-right could have received from Europe and the various Western chancelleries. Certainly socialist Spain, Macronian France and social democratic Germany are not our friends, but the Italian prime minister was able to forge a good relationship both with the outgoing US president Joe Biden and with Ursula Von Der Leyen and the nomination of Raffaele Fitto he vice-president of the EU commission demonstrates precisely this. It is undeniable that many European Union countries have drastically changed their vision on the topic of immigration thanks above all to the policies carried out by the Italian centre-right which have allowed landings in the Central Mediterranean to be reduced by 64% (Frontex source).

Migrants, landings reduced by 64% with the centre-right

The agreements with Tunisia and the launch of the Mattei Plan were crucial from this point of view. Meloni, then, managed to silence even those who, like Enrico Letta during the autumn 2022 electoral campaign, had prophesied that within six months Italy would default and we would find ourselves the Troika. The reality of the numbers says that for several months our country has grown more than the European average and more than France and Germany. But not only that. Employment levels, including female employment, have never been so high. Of course, Italy is not rich in gold, but rating agencies have also recently confirmed that Italy is a generally reliable country. Finally, Meloni was also lucky enough to enjoy some missteps of the historic allies of the Italian left: the red-robed prosecutors. The victory in Liguria, which came after the arrest of Giovanni Toti, is the emblem of this. The email in which prosecutor Patarnello, a member of the Democratic Judiciary, claims that Meloni is more dangerous than Berlusconi because she has no investigations against her is confirmation of this. The choice of the Bologna court to turn to the European Court of Justice to resolve the controversy on safe countries by making an absurd comparison with Nazi Germany is proof of this. A series of own goals that opened the eyes of the few Italians who still think that the Italian judiciary is impartial. Ultimately, partly due to his own merits and partly due to the demerits of his opponents, Meloni was able to close his two-year term in government sleeping more than peaceful dreams and showing himself once again as an invincible leader. At least so far.