“Let’s send the left into opposition in the EU too” –

“I am ready to take to the field for this European competition, to put my face on it and to compare myself, as always, with the judgment of the Italian people.” From the stage of the programmatic conference of Fratelli d’Italia Giorgia Meloni dissolves the reservation on her candidacy in the next European elections. The long-awaited announcement comes at the end of a 73-minute speech in which the prime minister and leader of the Via della Scrofa party makes the objective she is aiming for clear: “We can also bring the Italian model to Europe, and it would be a real and our own revolution. We want to do exactly what we did in Italy on 25 September 2022: create a majority that brings together the centre-right forces and finally send the left into opposition in Europe too.”

Meloni speaks in front of the other leaders of the coalition, Antonio Tajani, Maurizio Lupi and Lorenzo Cesa. The only absentee, as announced on the eve, was the secretary of the League Matteo Salvini, who spoke via video link with his daughter Mirta at his side, explaining that “this is the last Sunday I could dedicate to her” between now and 8 and 9 June, when to vote. As soon as she takes the floor, the Prime Minister greets everyone present, even the Deputy Prime Minister to whom she addresses a joke: “Thanks to Matteo, even if he preferred the bridge to us… I’m joking, I know that for us who are also parents it’s not It’s easy to put it all together, I know he wanted to be here.” A post-event phone call also takes place between the two, their respective staff inform, to take stock (ironically on some controversial reconstructions), to say goodbye and meet up in Rome.

From the stage in Pescara with the Adriatic Sea in the background, the president of the Council and of the Conservative family recognizes that the challenge on the horizon will not be easy. But, this is the message that you send, “it is a historic occasion from which not only a simple electoral result passes, but the very destiny of our nation and of the continent to which it belongs”. A vote to “move the axis of Europe’s choices to the right, to bring Europe closer to its people, to be central in the choices to make Italy weigh as it deserves”. In short, for Meloni it is “a decisive battle, a real crossroads that allows neither to make a wrong choice nor to back down”. Consequently, the reasoning goes, “everyone must be ready to do their part and I, as always, intend to do mine.”

Here is therefore the decision to “take the field to lead the lists of Brothers of Italy in all the electoral constituencies – announces the prime minister -. I do it because I have dedicated a lot of effort to this European path in recent years, and because I want to ask the Italians if they are satisfied with the work we are doing in Italy and Europe”. “I want the message to be clear – she explains – that by voting FdI we will vote to give even more strength to our government and to Italy in Europe, and I do it because I have always considered myself a soldier and soldiers when they have to do not hesitate to take sides first line”.

However, this does not mean he will start touring Italy, “I will not take away a single minute of the government’s activity to campaign in my name. My task is to solve the problems of this nation”. However, he adds, “since fortunately I am not the secretary of the Democratic Party, I think I can trust that my party will do its best to lend me a hand in this electoral campaign”. Which will be done first and foremost by her sister Arianna, responsible for the membership and political secretariat of FdI, expected in the next few weeks for an electoral event in Salento.

When announcing his candidacy Meloni then invites voters to write “my first name” directly on the ballot. An indication that the Prime Minister connects to the fact that “most of the citizens who address me continue to simply call me Giorgia. For me it is an extremely important and precious thing. I have been derided for years for my popular roots, I they called fishmonger, greengrocer, villager… What they never understood is that I will always be extremely proud of being a person of the people”. Therefore, as the minister Francesco Lollobrigida explains, the wording ‘Giorgia Meloni known as Giorgia’ will be specified during the submission of the candidacy.

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Six weeks before the vote, the prime minister gets involved, reiterating that “this very difficult role will not change me, power will not restrain me, the Palace will not isolate me. I need to know once again that it is worth it, because I do what I do only and exclusively for the Italians. I’m only interested in their opinion. So if you want, we will defend Italy together in Europe too, and who knows, maybe this time too we will be able to prove the predictions wrong. The time has come to lift up the mail”. With the aim of exceeding the 26% obtained in the political elections.