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Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni becomes Italy's first woman PM
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right populist Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, became Italy's first woman prime minister on Friday (Oct 21), the Xinhua reported.
Giorgia Meloni is an Italian politician and journalist. As a member of the Chamber of Deputies in Italy since 2006, she has led the Brothers of Italy political party since 2014, and has been the president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party since 2020.
The official announcement came after she met with the country's President, Sergio Mattarella, at the Quirinale Presidential Palace here in the afternoon.
Meloni received the mandate to form a new cabinet less than a month after her victory in the country's snap election on Sept. 25.
Her new cabinet, which will include 22 ministers, swore in earlier on Saturday (Oct 22).
Meloni's FdI party won 26 percent of the vote in September, and she will now lead the country in a right-wing alliance with Matteo Salvini's League party and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia, each of which snagged just over 8 percent.
Next week, the new government will face confidence votes in both houses of Parliament.
Meloni's government is set to command a comfortable majority in both houses of Parliament (Chamber of Deputies and Senate).
New Italy government will be pro-NATO, pro-Europe, says Meloni
The snap election in September was called after Mario Draghi -- an economist and former chief of the European Central Bank -- resigned as prime minister on July 21.
After receiving congratulations from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for her election victory, Giorgia Meloni has pledged her full support for Kyiv.
She also annonced her government will be pro-NATO, pro-Europe. "Italy with us in government will never be the weak link in the West," she said in a statement, adding that any party that disagreed with this line could not join her administration.
levantnews-xinhua
