Francesca De Benedetti covers European affairs at Domani and writes columns on European politics for Vanity Fair. She is cofounder of the European Focus newsletter. Her writing on Italian politics has been published by Libération, Balkan Insight, the International Press Institute, and other international outlets.
The EU election showed how much the EU establishment has accepted far-right Italian premier Giorgia Meloni. She’s often cast as a pragmatist, yet her planned constitutional rewrite and attacks on media challenge the narrative of a benign moderate turn.
Ahead of June’s EU elections, centrist politicians are again calling for a vote to stop the far right. But the far right has already won mainstream credibility — and it’s because it accepts the EU’s increasing devotion of public funds to the defense industry.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has been credited with overcoming Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán’s resistance to fresh EU funds for Ukraine. But far from moderating the Hungarian premier, Meloni is bringing Orbán-style far-right politics into the European mainstream.
Europe’s centrists often claim to defend liberal values against populist threats. Yet ahead of June’s EU elections, liberals have adopted far-right talking points on everything from the climate to migration — and it’s not saving their weak poll numbers.
Across the European Union, conservatives and far-right forces are uniting around an anti-immigrant and climate-skeptic agenda. Ahead of June’s EU elections, the continent’s divided left urgently needs to put forward an alternative.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s “State of the Union” address shows she’s concentrating ever more power in her own hands. Not only are far-right parties on the rise across the continent, but the EU’s leading official is pushing their agenda.