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Giorgia Meloni

This Month

A protester wears a hat saying “Make Europe Great Again” during an anti-immigration rally in Warsaw.

How Europe could go ‘MEGA’ very soon

With Donald Trump determined to “Make Europe Great Again”, the radical right has the momentum as crucial elections loom.

April

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Donald Trump.

Hushed chats, willful snubs: Geopolitics on show at Pope’s funeral

Dozens of leaders from around the world gathered for the pontiff’s funeral, but all eyes were on Donald Trump to see who he would greet and who he might avoid.

Donald Trump has threatened to walk away from peace talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

‘You’re horrible people’: US threatens to abandon Ukraine peace push

Donald Trump says the US will walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal unless there is progress soon, saying any party that makes it difficult are ‘fools’.

Special relationship: Donald Trump meets Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office.

Trump says US will ‘100 per cent’ strike trade deal with EU

The US president raised hopes of a breakthrough during an Oval Office meeting with Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni, whom he has called “a wonderful woman”.

Donald Trump declared a national economic emergency to launch the tariffs, expected to produce hundreds of billions in annual revenues.

Trump unveils 10pc tariffs on all imports, higher for 60 countries

The president used aggressive rhetoric to describe a global trade system that the US helped to build, saying “our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, plundered”.

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January

Giorgia Meloni attends Donald Trump’s inauguration.

‘Fantastic woman’: Can the Trump whisperer save Europe?

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has emerged as the US president’s favourite EU interlocutor, with hopes growing she could talk him out of a trade war.

It’s their world now. The rise of Trump’s right across the globe

As he takes power, the president boasts of an international group of right-wing proxies with equally provocative styles and a hostility towards migrants and “wokery”.

Kevin Rudd,

Rudd puts his feet up for summer as world braces for Trump

Ambassador to the US and former prime minister Kevin Rudd has been watching cricket back home in Australia while Donald Trump assembles his new team.

A British judge in October ordered Tommy Robinson to serve 18 months for repeating a libellous claim that a Syrian refugee schoolboy had attacked English girls.

Who is Tommy Robinson, and why does Elon Musk want him freed?

The X CEO has called for the release of the jailed British far-right extremist, while asserting that UK PM Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute child rapists.

November 2024

JK Rowling has support from the over 50s but not the under 25s.

Why November 5 will not become the Waterloo of wokery

American voters rejected the culture warriors of the left when they picked Donald Trump. But don’t imagine those views won’t still be very powerful in 2044.

August 2024

Tourists swarm the Trevi Fountain in Rome in July.

Italy considers hefty tax on visitors after over-tourism backlash

The government proposes a levy of up €25 a night for the most expensive hotel rooms to help cash-strapped cities.

July 2024

Giorgia Meloni with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing.

Meloni vows to ‘relaunch’ cooperation with China

Italy was the only Group of Seven country to join the massive Belt and Road Initiative, but it withdrew last year under US pressure over Beijing’s economic reach.

Keir Starmer outlined his intention to forge a new relationship with Europe last week.

Von der Leyen and Starmer plan meeting to drive UK-EU ‘reset’

Britain’s new PM is seeking better trade terms with the EU, while chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested the UK could align with EU regulations in some areas.

Giorgia Meloni’s nuclear push comes as her government imposed new restrictions on the rollout of solar power.

Meloni seeks to bring nuclear power back to Italy

Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said Rome plans to introduce legislation to enable investments in small modular nuclear reactors.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Liberals panic worldwide as Trump, Le Pen rise

Liberals are in for a long struggle as nationalist populism surges in the US and Europe.

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June 2024

Ursula von der Leyen supporters are quietly confident of securing parliament’s assent, given the victory of her centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) in the EU elections this month.

EU capitals to back new term for Ursula von der Leyen

The former German defence minister who was an unheralded choice for the post in 2019, received a boost last week from the bloc’s three most powerful members.

Ursula von der Leyen’s team are nervous about how the French president’s major electoral gamble will affect his strategy for the EU’s future leadership.

Talks on EU top jobs kick off at G7 summit

A summit of G7 leaders hosted by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni will feature private conversations with the EC president as she seeks five more years in the job.

Emmnanuel Macron. Calling an election might, in fact, be the most prudent thing he could have done.

The last best hope against populism is to expose it to government

Emmanuel Macron has concluded that power often tames radical parties or demonstrates their incompetence. His election call might be the most prudent thing he could have done.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at her party’s headquarters in Paris.

Europe’s real threat is not the far-right

The populists who won big at Europe’s weekend elections are blind to the bloc’s severe economic decline, especially compared to Asia and the US.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Italy’s Meloni strengthens grip at EU elections

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Brothers of Italy won about 28.8 per cent of the vote, strengthening her political position at home and in Europe.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/giorgia-meloni-6fts