Far-right favourite to be Italy's next PM softens on EU as election looms

Luigi Scazzieri at the Centre for European Reform points out that the League-Five Star government never vetoed EU sanctions against Russia. He does not think that will change under Italy’s likely next government: “In terms of sabotaging western unity … that’s not going to happen.

Some EU supporters are less sanguine about a Meloni government.

“Meloni, just like other far-right populist leaders, has learned from the example of the UK and the chaos that leaving the EU has caused,” said Petros Fassoulas, the secretary-general of European Movement International.

“Their intention isn’t so much to attack the EU; their intention is to take over from within and transform it into something closer to their ideas – a nightmare for all of us here in Brussels.”

He sees conflict between Meloni and the rest of the EU over migration. The Brothers of Italy want the navy to turn away migrant boats. In an EU increasingly pre-occupied by border security, Meloni’s faction is far from alone in seeking to prevent asylum seekers reaching Europe’s borders.