Italy’s governing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party has cast the Republican setback in the US midterm elections as a warning for Donald Trump and an opportunity to promote Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s approach to conservatism. The government, however, is avoiding direct comment on the result and waiting to see what Trump does next.
Ylenja Lucaselli, an FdI lawmaker and head of the party’s group on the Chamber of Deputies’ Budget Committee, said the result should prompt reflection on Trump, US politics and what she described as the sometimes excessive handling of issues important to American voters. She also argued that Republicans may want to return to a version of their party that Trump, in her view, has not represented.
Lucaselli said the way conservatism has been interpreted in Italy under Meloni points towards the future of centre-right parties. The approach, as described in the report, combines traditional right-wing themes such as patriotism, family and national identity with pragmatism.
Meloni has not commented on the midterms. Her government is maintaining a cautious public stance, while officials at Palazzo Chigi continue to describe the United States as a historic and valuable ally. Forza Italia spokesperson Raffaele Nevi likewise said the US would remain a strategic interlocutor regardless of who held office.
The Italian right’s reading of the vote is that Trump’s excesses carried a political cost, but that the transatlantic alliance remains important. Meloni’s position is being presented by FdI as an alternative conservative model, without changing Rome’s stated commitment to unity with the United States.
Sources: Il Sole 24 Ore Italia.