It’s a year since Giorgia Meloni became PM. In that year she has done very little, but rather a lot.
She has filled TV and the press with her people, meaning that virtually every news article is supporting the government line. She has succeeded in making immigration the only topic to be consistently on the front page, while doing nothing about it. The ‘threat of invasion’ is promoted daily, while the policies which she promised to introduce have been abandoned. She travels around the world being a stateswoman and avoids being in parliament for unpopular votes, has virtually abandoned press conferences in favour of monologues on Youtube, and tells everyone that she’s doing a lot. She has surrounded herself with an inner magic circle – her sister Arianna, her sisters husband Lollobrigida and still manages to claim that their privacy is being invaded despite being public figures. Her own partner, journalist Andrea Giambruno hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago peddling the ‘if you go out asking for it, its your fault if you’re raped’ line. Salvini promotes his ridiculous policies of the playground – he’s again promoting amnesties for illegal building work, tax evasion and not paying fines – trying to remain relevant.
So what has Scianel (pronounced Chanel) actually done in her year of power? She has all but cancelled state help for the unemployed, halving the aid to 340 euros a month for half the number of eligible claimants. She has not fulfilled any of her election promises on cutting petrol taxes, reducing state interference etc, funding research and the health service. She was instrumental in giving Tunisia 450 million euros to stop the boats, which has done precisely nothing. Its remarkably similar to the Rishi playbook. Instead she tells us that 2024 will be the year of reform. Obviously there is a correlation between headline grabbing legislation and the European elections, so we can expect some popularist measure before election day. In the meantime, despite all the promises, we have another government which ,for good or ill, is just treading water and doing nothing for the country.
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