Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has found herself facing a number of challenges. The first of these is her relationship with Donald Trump. The American president and Meloni seemed to be good friends - although they did not always see eye to eye. They were not equal partners, but they had mutual respect. And that is now history, notes ARD, quoting Trump's words that Meloni had become “unacceptable”. He had become disappointed with her, the American president said in an interview with the “Corriere della Sera” newspaper.
Meloni criticized Trump, who called Pope Leo XIV's foreign policy “terrible”. The Italian Prime Minister said Trump's statements about the Pope were unacceptable and expressed solidarity with the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Leo XIV is a strong critic of the war in Iran and, in turn, said that Trump's threats to destroy Iranian civilization were “unacceptable”.
The times of friendship with Trump are over
Regardless of who, why and how well-foundedly finds someone unacceptable, for Meloni this means that the times in which she maintained closeness with Trump and promised to mediate between the US and the EU are over for now, the German public media noted.
Political scientist Piero Ignazzi from the University of Bologna shares the opinion that Meloni could not have done otherwise at that moment. After Trump's criticism of the Pope, she first waited for several hours, apparently considering what to say. After all, after Trump's vulgar attack on the Pope, she had to speak out for the sake of her Catholic voters and public opinion, Ignazi points out.
At the same time, it was also a good opportunity for Meloni to distance herself from Trump, who is extremely unpopular in Italy, the political scientist told ARD. Polls show that in recent months, approval of Trump's policies has fallen even further. So everything could even be beneficial for Meloni.
Orban's defeat provokes mixed reactions
The second challenge for Giorgia Meloni is the electoral defeat of Viktor Orban, who ruled Hungary authoritarianally for years, the German public media continues. Meloni constantly defined him as her friend. Their political positions only partially coincided, their attitude to the war in Ukraine, for example, was completely different. Orbán's failure also weakens Meloni, Ignazzi believes.
However, the Italian media are not unanimous on the issue: this was more of a chance for Meloni to reinvent himself - i.e. just like in the case of Trump. Orbán's successor, Peter Magyar, has already praised Meloni at a press conference for doing a good job. He could become Meloni's new ally, the German public media predicts.
Where to after the referendum?
There remains the third challenge - the lost referendum on the legal reform, which Meloni wanted to accelerate. She called for this because in this way justice would become fairer and faster. Her opponents, on the other hand, pointed out that politics is trying to increase its influence on justice. They described the referendum as a test for the other two major projects with which Meloni wants to reshape Italy and secure more power.
The ARD explains what they meant: the government was actually planning to reform the electoral law and make it possible to directly elect the prime minister. In his long program speech to the deputies after the referendum, Meloni focused in detail on the lost vote, but did not mention the electoral law and the election of the prime minister at all.
For the political scientist Ignazzi, this is not surprising. She will probably talk more about the issue yet, he suggests to the ARD. From the lost referendum, Meloni understood that the direction of the wind has changed, he says. That people are not satisfied with the policies of the right-wing government. However, Ignazzi refuses to predict whether Meloni has a chance of being re-elected - the elections are not until next year.
Author: Lisa Weiss