Giorgia Meloni and Enrico Letta want to inherit Draghi

The Italian daily newspapers are currently giving the two losers of last weekend’s election several pages a day. Lega boss Matteo Salvini can eloquently reinterpret his fiasco in the referendum as victory and demand improvements in the judicial reform from the Draghi government, while Giuseppe Conte from the Cinque Stelle once again announces a policy with rough edges to talk about his defeat in the local elections distract.

The media fixation on the two figures who have shaped Italian politics in recent years is remarkable. It’s as if the newspapers can’t get enough of the two populists.

Salvini and Conte on the siding

It is becoming increasingly clear that Salvini, like Conte, will gradually be moved to the second row. Both the voter shares of their parties and their poll numbers are in the basement, the Lega has even lost its clout in its home countries in the north. Participation in the Draghi government obviously did not do the two formations, originally born as opposition forces, any good. Above all, however, their erratic nature comes across badly in central dossiers, such as the one on the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Giorgia Meloni from the right-wing conservative Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) and Enrico Letta from the social-democratic Partito Democratico (PD) are in the running, two politicians who have long been part of the inventory of Italian politics, but have recently been somewhat overshadowed by the big populists to have. Meloni and her Fratelli, who emerged from the post-fascist movement, are currently the only significant opposition force in parliament. Letta’s PD loyally supports Draghi’s government policies.

Both did well in recent local elections. The FdI have clearly positioned themselves as the strongest party on the right-wing camp. The local elections have also shown that the right wins – for example in Palermo – when it appears united. But both Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi find it difficult to concede the leadership role to Meloni – which probably also has to do with the fact that Meloni is a woman who doesn’t sit quietly. As a junior partner, she was agreeable to the two gentlemen.

Meloni, the product of Berlusconi TV

But the 45-year-old from Garbatella, a popular district of Rome, was never satisfied with this role. She has been in charge of her party since 2014 and has advanced it step by step. The FdI are arch-conservative. They emphasize Christian values, scoff at the LGTB movement and repeatedly express themselves as hostile to foreigners and globalization. They like Viktor Orban’s idea of ​​an illiberal democracy, although they are ideologically a bit more flexible.

In order not to show any weaknesses with regard to a possible government office and also to gain respectability internationally, the Fratelli have recently shown themselves to be relatively responsible. On the Ukraine question, for example, Meloni quickly made a pro-Atlantic commitment and immediately distanced himself from Putin’s friends. She has also distanced herself from France’s right-wing populist Marine Le Pen. In terms of economic policy, their program does not appear to be particularly solid.

Giorgia Meloni has been working on her image for a long time. “Io sono Giorgia” is the title of her autobiography. The politician is the perfect product of Berlusconi television, writes the Republica, shaped by a culture of narcissism that prioritizes “I” over “we”, emphasizes personal passion and also pays close attention to sellability.

At the same time, Meloni got her “trashy” side preserved. She’s managed to turn some of her apparent flaws – her rough, suburban Latin language, the way she dresses, the poses she strikes at rallies – into positive traits. Even a born populist like Matteo Salvini has a hard time of it.

Letta in the Paris Fountain of Youth

Enrico Letta is of a completely different nature. He is the traditionalist among Italy’s colorful political freaks and embodies the old school, so to speak. She hasn’t gotten bad for his party lately. In any case, the Partito Democratico is one of the few intact social democratic parties in Europe today. Her current strength derives from her almost unconditional loyalty to Mario Draghi’s popular executive. The PD is currently the governing party par excellence.

The 55-year-old Letta himself has a mixed political biography. Tasked with forming a government in 2013 by then President Giorgio Napoletano, he headed a relatively unsuccessful executive for a good ten months and resigned after an internal power struggle with the future Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Frustrated by this experience, he put an end to his political career for the time being and went to Paris for six years as dean of the respected elite school Sciences Po.

Letta’s companions see his “exile” in Paris as a fountain of youth for the mostly serious man from Pisa. The contact with the students at Sciences Po made him realize how important issues such as ecology, diversity and democratic participation are for young people. In addition, he gained a deeper insight into the mechanisms of European integration in Paris. Letta has also evolved as a leader. “I think the PD will take a less soft approach than in the past,” says Marc Lazara friend and colleague from their Paris years together.

That he, who grew up in a Christian-Democratic milieu and grew up with the culture of compromise, can also be different, more confrontational, was demonstrated recently during a TV skirmish with Marine Le Pen during the French election campaign. In perfect French he held Le Pen’s Contradictions in Russia policy relentlessly. The performance brought him appreciative headlines in Italy.

Difficult block formation

The traditionalist and the trashy – the two currently most promising candidates for Draghi’s successor should get along well, according to Rome. Interestingly, they are also pulling in the same direction on the most important foreign policy dossier, the Ukraine war.

But now a phase begins in which they have to emphasize the differences. They shouldn’t find it too difficult: Letta will castigate Meloni’s xenophobia and point out her party’s post-fascist past, Meloni will criticize Letta’s affiliation with the classe politique and denounce him for standing up for the rights of minorities.

Both difficulties are a number bigger when it comes to taming their possible coalition partners. Letta needs the support of Conte and smaller forces of the political center, Meloni has to deal with Salvini and Berlusconi if ​​she wants to lead a government of the political right one day. It is possible that the old battle horses have not yet had their day, despite everything.