The World Today for August 13, 2024

NEED TO KNOW

‘Mother’ of Change

ITALY

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calls her plan to change the structure of governance in the country the “mother of all reforms.” Her critics call it a naked bid to seize power for the prime minister’s office and government, and enact illiberal laws.

Meloni’s proposal, now winding through legislative meetings, would change the Italian constitution so that voters would directly elect the prime minister to a five-year term – and at the same time give their political party an automatic majority in parliament, wrote Le Monde.

This arrangement would replace the current traditional approach to parties running in parliamentary elections and then using their majority to appoint their leader as the prime minister. It would arguably also give the prime minister more authority than the Italian president, the head of state who is chosen through a special electoral college.

Italy has had almost 70 governments since World War II, reported Reuters. Meloni says her proposal would stabilize future governments and inject democracy into a process where politicking and power-sharing don’t seem to be working.

Her critics said the new system would create more, not less, political fragmentation in Italy, however, countered Jacobin, a left-wing magazine. Voters could vote for a prime minister but choose lawmakers from a different party, for example, creating a variety of imaginable problems.

The most trenchant critiques of Meloni’s proposal raised the specter of fascism.

Writing in an opinion piece in Politico, Michael Meyer-Resende and Nino Tsereteli of Democracy Reporting International, a Berlin-based non-governmental organization, argued that the proposed law echoed Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s Acerbo Law of 1923. The Acerbo Law granted two-thirds of parliament to whichever party won the largest share of the vote, paving the way for Mussolini to take power.

Meloni has long dismissed accusations of fascist sympathies even though she has links to that dangerous movement. As a teenager, Meloni belonged to the neofascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), a group founded by Mussolini’s former chief of staff. MSI members were “openly apologetic” for Mussolini, wrote Foreign Policy. Her party, the Brothers of Italy, has roots in the group, added the Associated Press.

Meloni is not necessarily replicating Mussolini’s foreign policies, however.

Whereas Mussolini sought to wage war in Africa, for example, Meloni is taking an opposite tack, wrote World Politics Review. She recently held a summit with African leaders and pledged $60 billion in economic development and business deals on the continent, from energy projects in Kenya to agriculture and infrastructure in Mozambique.

Earlier this year, the Economist wrote that “Meloni has proved her doubters wrong.” But – the British magazine also cautioned about “troubles ahead.”

To read the full edition and support independent journalism, join our community of informed readers and subscribe today!