What’s next for Italy and its approach to the world?

Italy’s first female leader will head the country’s most right-wing administration since the fascist era of Benito Mussolini.

Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist Brothers of Italy party won last month’s election, along with two others. Matteo Salvini’s far-right League, and controversial former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia were also in the winning camp.

Social conservatism as well as anti-immigration and Eurosceptic rhetoric are part of Meloni’s political appeal. She has also voiced anger about Italy’s struggling economy.

But she is pledging support for Ukraine – a stance different from her Russia-friendly allies Salvini and Berlusconi.

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

Valerie Fargion – Associate professor of political science at the University of Florence

Alberto Tonini – Associate professor of international history and energy politics at the University of Florence

Theresa Fallon – Senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former member of the Strategic Advisors Group to NATO