Giorgi Meloni's Center-Right Coalition of the Brethren of Italy parties won the Italian parliamentary elections the day before., "League" by Matteo Salvini and "Forward, Italy Silvio Berlusconi. Most of the votes among the allies received deputies from the Brothers of Italy party, which practically guarantees the chair of the prime minister in the newly formed government of Georgie Meloni. Political scientists predict, that the pre-election solidarity of the leaders of the three parties will end, when they have to agree on some issues of the country's foreign policy.
Possible contradictions within the coalition are reported by the American edition of Foreign Policy and the Hong Kong South China Morning Post.. We are talking about the different positions of party leaders in relation to China and Russia..
Chinese analysts point out, that far-right leader Meloni has repeatedly spoken out in support of Taiwan independence and criticized the Chinese leadership for "violating human rights" in the country. Also in 2008 year, as sports minister, she called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics because of China's policy in Tibet. Meloni recently spoke critically of Beijing over military exercises, which the PLA launched in the waters adjacent to the island after the visit of Nancy Pelosi to Taipei.
This is unacceptable behavior from Beijing., which we strongly condemn along with all the democracies of the free world, said Meloni, urging the EU to "use all the political and diplomatic weapons at its disposal", to prevent regional conflict.
Meloni also criticized Beijing for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and its "ambiguous stance" on Russia's invasion of Ukraine..
AT 2019 Italy became the only country, member of the G7 club, which signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the One Belt, one way". But Meloni called Italy's acceptance of the plan a "big mistake", nameknuv, that the Memorandum of Understanding is unlikely to be renewed in 2024 year. The leader of the "Brothers of Italy" said, that her government would work to limit China's economic expansion and ensure that, that less developed countries have an alternative to "Chinese penetration" through the One Belt Initiative, one way".
At the same time, the American publication predicts possible disagreements between the leaders of the center-right parties on the issue of building relations with Russia..
During the election race, the right-wing coalition seems to have formed a unified position on the issue of condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, says columnist. However, even then there were some frictions between the associates..
for example, Berlusconi has been criticized after, as stated on national television, that the goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch a special operation in Ukraine was simply to “replace [President of Ukraine Volodymyr] Zelensky government, composed of decent people". Salьvini, in its turn, repeatedly insisted on the need to review sanctions against Moscow, as they "cause damage to the wrong side, against which, but rather, who introduced them".
In an attempt to enter the top three, Meloni managed to distance himself as much as possible from his previous positions., friendly to the Kremlin. Earlier, she welcomed the re-election of Vladimir Putin to the post of President of the Russian Federation in 2018 year. But as part of the election campaign, the leader of the far right changed her pro-Russian rhetoric. For the sake of populist goals, she spoke in favor of sending military aid to Ukraine.
The leader of the "League" Salvini had to go to political metamorphoses, which previously openly supported the signing of the Memorandum under the One Belt, one way". Under pressure from the public and in an attempt to gain support from opponents of Chinese expansion, which are the majority in the European Union, Salvini changed his attitude towards supporting China and establishing cooperation between Rome and Beijing.
But Berlusconi does not need to change his position on China. is he, like Meloni, has always been a staunch opponent of China's "economic and political expansionism", which has been publicly stated on numerous occasions.. In one of the campaign videos, he said:
Today's People's Republic of China has combined the ancient expansionism of the Chinese empire with the current communist globalism and has become a dangerous challenge in the economic, political, and also at the military level. Given all these contradictions on foreign policy issues, the leaders of the center-right coalition will either have to find compromises and negotiate, or Italy is again waiting for early elections, say Chinese and American experts. Author:Alexander Grigoriev Photos used:Website of the Brothers of Italy party
