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Militant feminist in new Italian cabinet line-up

Italy's new government line-up brings together personalities from across the political spectrum, from Silvio Berlusconi's protégé to a crime fighter and a militant feminist from the radical party.

Published: 29 April 2013 09:20 CEST
Militant feminist in new Italian cabinet line-up
Foreign Minister Emma Bonino arrives for Prime Minister Enrico Letta's first cabinet meeting. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Here are some of the key names of the coalition members tasked with tackling the social and economic crisis in recession-hit Italy, but who risk sparring over key reforms called for to revitalize the eurozone's third largest economy.

Enrico Letta, prime minister, was number two in the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), and a strong critic of the left's rival, former premier Silvio Berlusconi.

The 46-year old moderate, a Catholic with a "post-ideological" image, is one of the youngest prime ministers in the European Union and has already served in four governments.

Angelino Alfano, deputy prime minister and interior minister, has been a Berlusconi loyalist since the media tycoon entered politics in the early 1990s. Born in 1970, he rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming justice minister and then leader of Berlusconi's People of Freedom party.

A lawyer, he is best known as the architect of a law intended to shield Berlusconi from prosecution, which was later overturned by a Constitutional Court ruling.

Fabrizio Saccomanni, economy minister, 70, has been the director general of the Bank of Italy since 2006 and turned the spotlight on the country's precarious workers in particular, highlighting problems in the labour market.

Saccomanni participated in the negotiations for the creation of the European single currency and helped manage Italy's transition from the lira to the euro.

More recently, he dismissed as exaggerated fears that debt-laden Italy could end up contributing to a eurozone break-up and has accused powerful ratings agencies of overstepping their roles and fuelling market anxiety unnecessarily.

Emma Bonino, foreign minister, 65, is a militant feminist and former member of Italy's radical party.

Jailed for three weeks in 1975 for protesting in favour of abortion rights, she is renowned for her battles to legalize divorce, decriminalize soft drugs like marijuana, support religious and sexual freedoms and stop the use of nuclear energy.

A graduate in modern languages who speaks Arabic, she is a former European commissioner for humanitarian aid.

Anna Maria Cancellieri, justice minister, 69, was interior minister under Mario Monti and is a former prefect with a reputation as a crime fighter and a troubleshooter in times of crisis.

Nicknamed the "Iron Lady" for her leadership style and uncompromising stance on corruption, she has been courted by the left, right and centre during her long career but has remained impartial and avoided aligning herself with any political party.

A staunch anti-mafia campaigner, she has defended the Italian state against accusations that it is unable to prevent infiltration by powerful crime groups.

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EUROPEAN UNION

Italian PM Meloni says will stand in EU Parliament elections

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday she would stand in upcoming European Parliament elections, a move apparently calculated to boost her far-right party, although she would be forced to resign immediately.

Published: 28 April 2024 15:54 CEST
Italian PM Meloni says will stand in EU Parliament elections

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-Fascist roots, came top in Italy’s 2022 general election with 26 percent of the vote.

It is polling at similar levels ahead of the European elections on from June 6-9.

With Meloni heading the list of candidates, Brothers of Italy could exploit its national popularity at the EU level, even though EU rules require that any winner already holding a ministerial position must immediately resign from the EU assembly.

“We want to do in Europe exactly what we did in Italy on September 25, 2022 — creating a majority that brings together the forces of the right to finally send the left into opposition, even in Europe!” Meloni told a party event in the Adriatic city of Pescara.

In a fiery, sweeping speech touching briefly on issues from surrogacy and Ramadan to artificial meat, Meloni extolled her coalition government’s one-and-a-half years in power and what she said were its efforts to combat illegal immigration, protect families and defend Christian values.

After speaking for over an hour in the combative tone reminiscent of her election campaigns, Meloni said she had decided to run for a seat in the European Parliament.

READ ALSO: How much control does Giorgia Meloni’s government have over Italian media?

“I’m doing it because I want to ask Italians if they are satisfied with the work we are doing in Italy and that we’re doing in Europe,” she said, suggesting that only she could unite Europe’s conservatives.

“I’m doing it because in addition to being president of Brothers of Italy I’m also the leader of the European conservatives who want to have a decisive role in changing the course of European politics,” she added.

In her rise to power, Meloni, as head of Brothers of Italy, often railed against the European Union, “LGBT lobbies” and what she has called the politically correct rhetoric of the left, appealing to many voters with her straight talk.

“I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian” she famously declared at a 2019 rally.

She used a similar tone Sunday, instructing voters to simply write “Giorgia” on their ballots.

“I have always been, I am, and will always be proud of being an ordinary person,” she shouted.

EU rules require that “newly elected MEP credentials undergo verification to ascertain that they do not hold an office that is incompatible with being a Member of the European Parliament,” including being a government minister.

READ ALSO: Why is Italy’s government being accused of helping tax dodgers?

The strategy has been used before, most recently in Italy in 2019 by Meloni’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who leads the far-right Lega party.

The EU Parliament elections do not provide for alliances within Italy’s parties, meaning that Brothers of Italy will be in direct competition with its coalition partners Lega and Forza Italia, founded by Silvio Berlusconi.

The Lega and Forza Italia are polling at about seven percent and eight percent, respectively.

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