Giorgia Meloni

The Honourable
Giorgia Meloni
President of Brothers of Italy
Assumed office
8 March 2014
Preceded by Ignazio La Russa
Minister of Youth
In office
8 May 2008 – 16 November 2011
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by Giovanna Melandri
Succeeded by Andrea Riccardi
Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
4 April 2006 – 28 April 2008
President Fausto Bertinotti
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
Assumed office
21 April 2006
Constituency Lazio 1 (2006–2008)
Lazio 2 (2008–2013)
Lombardy 3 (2013–2018)
Province of Latina (2018–present)
Personal details
Born (1977-01-15) 15 January 1977
Rome, Italy
Political party Brothers of Italy (2012–present)
Other political
affiliations		 Social Movement (1992–1995)
National Alliance (1995–2009)
People of Freedom (2009–2012)
Domestic partner Andrea Giambruno
Children 1
Profession
Website www.giorgiameloni.com

Giorgia Meloni (born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician and journalist, leader of Brothers of Italy, a national conservative party in Italy. Meloni served also as Minister of Youth in Silvio Berlusconi's fourth government and president of Young Italy, the youth section of The People of Freedom.

She is the co-founder of the party Brothers of Italy, along with Guido Crosetto and Ignazio La Russa, and on 8 March 2014, she was elected president of the party. She has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy since 2006.[1]

Early life

Giorgia Meloni was born in Rome in 1977. Her father came from Sardinia and her mother came from Sicily;[2] her father, a tax advisor, left his family when Giorgia Meloni was eleven years old. She grew up in the suburban district of Garbatella.

In 1992, at 15 years old, she joined the Youth Front, the youth-wing of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). In these years she founded the student coordination Gli Antenati (The Old Ones), which took part in the protest against the public education reform promoted by minister Rosa Russo Iervolino. In 1996 she became the national leader of Student Action, the student movement of National Alliance, the right-wing heir of the MSI, representing this movement in the Student Associations Forum established by the Italian Ministry of Education. In the same year, she earned a diploma in the Amerigo Vespucci Institute.[3]

During these year she also worked as a nanny, waitress and bartender at the "Piper Club", one of the most famous night clubs in Rome.[4][5]

In 1998, after winning the primary election, she was elected city councilwoman of the Province of Rome, holding this position until 2002. In 2000, she was elected national director, and in 2004, was the first women president of Youth Action, the party's youth wing. During this period she was the leader of the "Sons of Italy" faction.

Political career

Minister of Youth

Portrait of Giorgia Meloni for the Chamber of Deputies

In 2006 general election Meloni was elected in the Italian Chamber of Deputies; subsequently she became the youngest ever Vice President of the Chamber. In the same year she started to work as journalist.[6]

In 2008, she was appointed as Minister of Youth Policies in the fourth cabinet led by the media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, a position she held until November 16, 2011, when the conservative Prime Minister was forced to resign amid financial crisis and public protests. She was the youngest-ever minister in the history of the Italian Republic.[7] In August 2008, Meloni invited Italian athletes to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in disagreement with the Chinese policy implemented towards Tibet; however this statement was criticized by Berlusconi and Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini.[8]

In 2009, her party merged with Forza Italia into The People of Freedom and she took over the presidency of the united party's youth section, called Young Italy.[7] In the same year she voted the decree law against euthanasia.[9]

In November 2010, on behalf of the ministry, she presented a 300 million euro package called the "Right to the Future", aimed of investing in young people and containing five initiatives, including incentives for new entrepreneurs, bonuses in favor of temporary workers, loans for deserving students.

In November 2012, she announced her bid to contest the leadership of the People of Freedom party against Angelino Alfano, in contrast with the party's support of the Monti Cabinet. After the cancellation of the primaries, she teamed up with fellow MPs Ignazio La Russa and Guido Crosetto for an anti-Monti policy, asking for renewal within the party and being also critical of the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi.[10][11]

Leader of Brothers of Italy

Giorgia Meloni with Guido Crosetto during a FdI rally in 2014

In December 2012, Meloni, La Russa and Crosetto founded a new political movement, Brothers of Italy (FdI), whose name borrowed from the words of the Italian National Anthem.[12][13] At the February 2013 general election, her ran within Berlusconi's Centre-right coalition and received 2.0% of the vote and 9 seats.[14] Meloni was re-elected in the Chamber of Deputies for Lombardy and was later appointed party's leader in the house, office that she will hold until 2014, when she will resign to dedicate only to the party and Fabio Rampelli will succeed her.[15]

In March 2014 she became president of Brothers of Italy and in April she was nominated for the 2014 European election as the leader of the Brothers of Italy in all the 5 constituencies, but her party obtained only 3.7% of the votes not exceeding the threshold of 4% and therefore she did not become MEP, despite the 348,700 preferences.[16]

As party's leader she decided the alliance with the Lega Nord of Matteo Salvini, implementing with him several political campaigns against the centre-left government of Matteo Renzi, attesting FdI on Eurosceptic and populist positions.[17]

On November 4, 2015 he founded the Our Land – Italians with Giorgia Meloni, a conservative political committee in support of her campaigns.[18] Practically speaking, Our Land was a parallel organisation to FdI and aimed at enlarging FdI's popular base.[19][20]

On 30 January 2016 she participated to the "Family Day", an anti-LGBT rights demonstration, declaring herself against the Cirinnà law, which recognized same-sex unions in Italy. At the same Family Day, Meloni claimed to be pregnant; her daughter, Ginevra, born on 16 September.[21]

n the 2016 municipal election in Rome, Meloni ran for mayor with the support of Us with Salvini, but in opposition to the candidate supported by Berlusconi's Forza Italia. Meloni won 20.6% of the vote, almost twice than FI's candidate, but did not qualify for the run-off, while the FdI obtained a convincing 12.3%.[22]

During the December 2016 constitutional referendum about the reform promoted by Renzi's government, Meloni founded the committees "No, Thanks" and participated in numerous television debates, including one against Prime Minister Renzi. When the "No" won with almost 60% of votes, Meloni called for snap elections and, when Renzi resigned, she denied confidence to the next cabinet led by Paolo Gentiloni.[23][24]

Meloni with Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi in 2018

On the 2 and 3 December 2017 in Trieste, the congress of Brothers of Italy saw the re-election of Meloni as President of the party, as well as a renewal of the party logo and the join of Daniela Santanchè, a long-time right-wing politician.[25]

In the 2018 general election, Brothers of Italy run within the centre-right coalition, with Berlusconi's Forza Italia, Salvini's League and Raffaele Fitto's Us with Italy. Meloni's party obtained 4.4% of the vote and more than thrice the seats won in 2013. She was elected in the Chamber of Deputies for the single-member constituency of Latina with 41% of votes.[26] The centre-right alliance, in which the League emerged as the main political force, won a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, however, no political group or party won an outright majority, resulting in a hung parliament.[27][28]

Electoral history

2018 general election (C): Latina
Candidate Party Votes %
Giorgia Meloni Centre-right coalition 70,268 41.0
Leone Martellucci Five Star Movement 62,563 36.5
Federico Fauttilli Centre-left coalition 26,293 15.3
Others 12,269 7.2
Total 171,393 100.0

References

  1. ↑ "Page on Meloni at Chamber of Deputies website (Italian)".
  2. ↑ Giorgia Meloni, "Cinquantamila giorni", Corriere della Sera
  3. ↑ "Biografia del ministro Giorgia Meloni", Governo italiano
  4. ↑ Meloni, da barman a tata.. a ministro: “Ho fatto tutti i lavori e ne sono fiera”
  5. ↑ Giorgia Meloni : «Io militante ventenne e i Lego con la figlia di Fiorello»
  6. ↑ Ordine dei giornalisti del Lazio Archived 2011-03-03 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. 1 2 "Giorgia Meloni". Il Sole 24 Ore. 8 February 2013.
  8. ↑ Giorgia Meloni a Tatanka: "Ho chiesto un gesto, non di non gareggiare"
  9. ↑ La Meloni: "Caro Fini, ecco perché non ti seguo"
  10. ↑ Pdl, primarie in fumo. La rabbia dei giovani
  11. ↑ Crosetto e Meloni dal Pdl a 'Fratelli d'Italia': trattativa con La Russa su nome e simbolo
  12. ↑ "Pdl, il giorno dei montiani. "No a scissioni"". Corriere della Sera. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  13. ↑ "Appello a Monti e guerra alla sinistra Il Pdl si ricompatta". Corriere della Sera. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  14. ↑ "Elezioni 2015". Elezioni.interno.it. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  15. ↑ E' Fabio Rampelli il nuovo Capogruppo di Fratelli d'Italia – Alleanza Nazionale
  16. ↑ Europee, Bonafè (Pd) è la più votata. Elette Mussolini, Picierno e Matera
  17. ↑ Matteo Salvini e la nuova mappa della destra, fra Giorgia Meloni e Roberto Maroni
  18. ↑ Fratelli d'Italia lancia il movimento Terra Nostra. A fine novembre la prima assemblea
  19. ↑ Comitato Terra Nostra – Chi siamo
  20. ↑ Nasce Terra Nostra: parte il derby della destra tra Fini e Meloni
  21. ↑ È nata la figlia Ginevra: FdI saluta la nuova “sorellina d’Italia”
  22. ↑ Elezioni Comunali Roma 2016
  23. ↑ "Il governo Gentiloni ha giurato, ministri confermati tranne Giannini. Alfano agli Esteri. Minniti all'Interno. Boschi sottosegretario". 12 December 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  24. ↑ "L'ascesa di Paolo Gentiloni, dalla Margherita alla Farnesina" [Paolo Gentiloni's rise: from the Daisy to the Farnesina]. La Repubblica (in Italian). Rome: Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  25. ↑ Fratelli d’Italia: via An e Msi dal simbolo. Entra Santanchè: «Tornata a casa mia»
  26. ↑ Elezioni 2018 – Collegio uninominale di Latina
  27. ↑ "Elezioni politiche: vincono M5s e Lega. Crollo del Partito democratico. Centrodestra prima coalizione. Il Carroccio sorpassa Forza Italia". 4 March 2018.
  28. ↑ Sala, Alessandro. "Elezioni 2018: M5S primo partito, nel centrodestra la Lega supera FI".
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