Of the four major European nations, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy, only the latter is governed by a conservative prime minister. The European elections highlighted an ongoing trend in Europe: the advance of the right. Both Macron in France and Scholz in Germany were severely weakened by the outcome of the elections, while in Italy the governing centre-right coalition achieved an important result with Fratelli d’Italia, the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, increasing its consensus.

Therefore, there is now a stable government in Italy consisting of three parties: Fratelli d’Italia (conservatives), Lega (identitarians) and Forza Italia (classical liberals). This has international as well as domestic implications, because of the Italian government’s ambitious approach to geopolitical positioning, immigration, and the relationship with the European Union.

The Meloni government has been characterised by an unambiguous Atlanticist foreign policy line. The prime minister decided not to renew Italy’s membership of the “Silk Road” — the huge Chinese-helmed infrastructure and investment project of which Italy had been the only European member.

Meloni also initiated a project called the “Mattei Plan” named after Enrico Mattei, the founder of ENI, Italy’s state-owned oil company. Mattei’s approach in Africa was based on the concept of cooperation with African peoples, revolutionary for the time. In fact, part of the oil profits remained on the ground, thus enabling the development of African nations. It was precisely with cooperation in mind that the Italian plan in Africa was born, with an economic, cultural and above all immigration-related perspective. The fight against irregular immigration is one of the main challenges facing the Meloni government.

The island of Lampedusa and the nation of Tunisia are just over a hundred kilometres apart as the crow flies, and the Mediterranean Sea has become a hub for irregular immigration from Africa to Europe. After a difficult start, Giorgia Meloni has managed to implement effective immigration policies that have decreased the number of irregular arrivals, and a few days ago the Italian migrant centres in Albania became operational. In the port of Shëngjin stands the first of two migrant reception centres set up by Italy as part of an agreement with the Albanian government that will last five years (then renewable), welcoming up to 3,000 people. Migrants who irregularly enter Italian territorial waters, instead of arriving on Italian territory, will first go to reception centres in Albania where it will be decided whether or not they are entitled to asylum. Otherwise they will be deported without setting foot in Italy.

Inland in Gjader is the actual “centre for accelerated procedures”, housed in a former Albanian Air Force base and consisting of three different facilities. The first holds up to 880 migrants from “safe countries” to whom the so-called “accelerated border procedures” will be applied, and within twenty

-eight days it must be determined whether or not they are entitled to protection, or whether they will have to be repatriated. The second facility is a 144-seat repatriation centre where migrants who are not entitled to protection will be detained prior to deportation, and finally a third facility serves as a 20-seat mini-penitentiary for those who commit crimes within the centre. This is a small revolution for European migration policies and stems from Italy’s need to find bilateral agreements and solutions in the face of the European Union’s inability to solve a problem that affects not only Italy but all of Europe.

The Italian position is based on the desire to give Italy greater weight in the governance of Europe. Italy, the EU’s third most populous nation and third largest economy, has too often suffered from decisions imposed by Germany and France. Today, Ital-exit is not on the cards (Italy, unlike Great Britain, has the euro as its currency, an aspect that complicates things considerably) but there is a shared need for the Italian voice to be heard much more.

Giorgia Meloni is also moving in this direction by opposing decisions contrary to Italy’s national interest (and also that of the European peoples) such as green policies that favour the Chinese economy and represent a danger to European industry.

Meloni has also increased her international standing — and, through it, that of Italy — by speaking out on the world stage. Her confidence has led, for example, to a prominent friendship with Elon Musk.

To those who accuse her government of adopting positions that are too dialogue-oriented or sometimes moderate, the best response comes from the expression “fighting and governing”. It is institutional when necessary, but firm and uncompromising in values and principles.