Giorgia Meloni's Europe

ABSTRACT: For a party that often accuses foreign media of conniving with the domestic opposition, Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy is oddly hungry for good reviews in the U.S. press. Even incidental positive remarks about the Italian prime minister are routinely broadcast across the party's Instagram and twitter accounts, while more critical notes get lost in translation. When Meloni visited President Joe Biden last July, the Washington Posttermed her a "rising star of the far right"; the pro-government Secolo d'Italiareworded it to "international rising star." Her colleagues were particularly enthused in February when CNN's Fareed Zakaria issued a four-minute homage to "Meloni's moment" as a European political heavyweight. Despite grim forecasts upon her election, Zakaria claimed, Meloni had achieved a "remarkable turnaround," proving herself as a stable Western ally, backing Ukraine, and even filling a leadership vacuum in the European Union left open since Angela Merkel's resignation as German chancellor in 2021. Brothers of Italy trumpeted his message far and wide.