Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Matteo Salvini

  • Italians Turn Their Backs on Putin (And His Sympathizers)

    Mario Draghi
    Italian prime minister Mario Draghi answers questions from reporters in Brussels, October 22, 2021 (European Council)

    Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League, visited the Polish-Ukrainian border this month to “help refugees.” But he made headlines for a different reason. In a video that went viral, Salvini could be seen squirming away from a news conference when the mayor of Przemyśl, a Polish town across the border from Lviv, taunted him with a T-shirt emblazoned with a visage of Salvini’s “friend,” Vladimir Putin. Salvini wore a similar shirt when he visited Moscow in 2014.

    Salvini’s embarrassment is part of a broader blowback against Italy’s populist right over its cozy ties to Putin, one that could discredit the anti-American strain in Italian politics. (more…)

  • Sway with Me: How Italy’s Salvini Lost His Credibility

    Herbert Kickl Matteo Salvini
    Herbert Kickl and Matteo Salvini, the interior ministers of Austria and Italy, meet in Brussels, July 12, 2018 (European Council)

    Italy’s Matteo Salvini tried to be all things to all people, and failed.

    The leader of the (formerly Northern) League aspired to become the next Silvio Berlusconi: the uncontested leader of the Italian right. To prove he could govern, he formed a coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and later supported the unity government of Mario Draghi.

    But you can’t govern in Italy without making compromises, and that’s not something far-right voters tend to reward. Salvini has oscillated between mock statesmanship and populism, giving his supporters whiplash. Giorgia Meloni’s postfascist Brothers of Italy now threaten to eclipse him. (more…)

  • Right-Wing Italians Swap Salvini’s for Even More Right-Wing Party

    Matteo Salvini Marine Le Pen Harald Vilimsky Michał Marusik
    Far-right party leaders Matteo Salvini of Italy, Marine Le Pen of France, Harald Vilimsky of Austria and Michał Marusik of Poland give a news conference in Strasbourg, May 11, 2016 (European Parliament/Fred Marvaux)

    It’s been a bad few months for Italy’s populist right-wing leader, Matteo Salvini.

    First his erstwhile governing partner, the Five Star Movement, and the opposition Democrats outmaneuvered him by teaming up to avoid snap elections which polls predicted Salvini’s League would win.

    Now his antics in reaction to the government’s coronavirus policy are falling flat.

    Salvini and his party “occupied” parliament (refusing to leave the chamber) to demonstrate against the COVID-19 quarantine. He has tweeted out disinformation about the disease, claiming it was created in a Chinese lab. Few Italians care.

    Polls find two in three have little faith in the EU anymore, which many Italians feel has been too slow to come to their aid. (Italy has had one of the worst outbreaks of coronavirus disease in the world.) Yet it hasn’t given the Euroskeptic Salvini, who once argued for giving up the euro, a boost. (more…)

  • Matteo Salvini Appears to Have Made a Huge Mistake

    Matteo Salvini Marine Le Pen
    Italian and French far-right party leaders Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen answer questions from reporters in Rome, October 8, 2018 (Shutterstock/Alessia Pierdomenico)

    Italy’s most popular politician appears to have made a huge mistake.

    Matteo Salvini, the country’s hardline interior minister, brought down his far-right League’s government with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement on Tuesday, hoping to trigger early elections that polls suggest his party would win.

    But none of the other parties are willing to play ball. (more…)

  • Macron, Salvini Represent Opposite Sides in Europe’s Culture War

    Emmanuel Macron
    French president Emmanuel Macron makes a speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, April 17 (European Parliament/Mathieu Cugnot)

    Politico has a good story about how France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Matteo Salvini represent opposite sides in what I — per Andrew Sullivan — call .

    Macron is a former investment banker who styles himself as a liberal champion of the European Union. Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League party, has emerged as Europe’s leading nationalist — one who has pledged to bring the European project to a crashing halt.

    Both are building transnational coalitions to contest the 2019 European Parliament elections. (more…)

  • Far-Right League Gains Most from Governing in Italy

    Italy’s far-right League is benefiting the most from the government deal it struck with the populist Five Star Movement earlier this month.

    • In municipal elections on Sunday, the League captured the former left-wing strongholds of Massa, Pisa and Siena in the region of Tuscany.
    • Nationally, the League is tied with the Five Star Movement in the polls. Both get 27-29 percent support. In the last election, the Five Stars got 33 percent support against 17 percent for the League. (more…)

  • Democrats Should Keep Superdelegates, Salvini Calls for Anti-EU Budget

    BuzzFeed reports that Democrats in the United States are considering eliminating superdelegates from their presidential nominating contest.

    That would be a mistake.

    Superdelegates — governors, members of Congress and party officials — are a failsafe, to prevent a Democratic Donald Trump.

    Opponents consider them undemocratic, but this fetishizes democracy. The point of the primary process is — or should be — to find the best candidate possible who can then go on to win in a democratic contest. (more…)

  • Nobody Is Happy in Germany, League Calls for Italian Euro Exit

    German parliament Berlin
    Reichstag in Berlin, Germany (Unsplash/Fionn Große)

    Nobody in Germany is happy with the deal Angela Merkel struck with the Social Democrats this week.

    Politico reports that conservatives are upset she gave the Finance Ministry to the left. The party’s youth wing is openly calling for Merkel’s replacement.

    The Financial Times reports that Martin Schulz is testing his Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) unity by joining the new government as foreign minister.

    Tilman Pradt argued here the other day that Schulz has wasted away his credibility by reneging on his promise never to serve under Merkel. “Given the fate of its sister parties in Europe,” Pradt wrote, “the SPD should have been aware of the dangers of putting personal ambitions over party politics.” (more…)

  • Italy’s Salvini Commits to Right-Wing Pact, Asks Same of Berlusconi

    Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League, has ruled out reneging on a right-wing pact and asked Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the mainstream conservatives, to do the same.

    Both parties get around 15 percent support in recent surveys. In combination with smaller right-wing parties, they might just reach the 40 percent needed to form a government.

    If they fall short, Salvini could theoretically team up with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which is polling at 26-28 percent.

    Salvini and the Five Stars share views on Europe and political reform, but they come at it from opposite ends of the political spectrum.

    Both have ruled out an alliance. (more…)

  • Salvini Would Pick Populists Over Center-Left for Coalition

    Italy’s Northern League would rather go into coalition with the populist Five Star Movement than the mainstream center-left, its leader, Matteo Salvini, has said.

    Speaking in Palermo on Monday, the conservative lamented that the Five Stars are “showing their incompetence where they govern.”

    But, he added, “if I were to call someone, I wouldn’t call Renzi or Alfano” — referring to Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi and Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, the leader of the small center-right Popular Alternative.

    Renzi’s Democrats are polling neck and neck with the Five Star Movement. Salvini’s Northern League is vying with former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia to become the largest party on the right. Support for the Popular Alternative is in the single digits. (more…)