Giorgia Meloni

Giorgia Meloni (born 15 January 1977 in Rome) became Italy's first female Prime Minister on 22 October 2022, following the victory of her right-wing coalition in the September 2022 general election. She leads Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), a national-conservative party she co-founded in 2012, which traces organizational roots to the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) and its successor, the National Alliance.

Meloni entered politics as a teenager through the MSI's youth wing and was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006. She served as Minister of Youth in Silvio Berlusconi's fourth government (2008–2011), becoming the youngest minister in Italian republican history at the time. She has presided over the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party at the European level since 2020.

Her governing coalition includes Matteo Salvini's Lega and Forza Italia. In office, Meloni has pursued a tougher line on irregular migration — including the 2023 memorandum of understanding with Tunisia coordinated with the European Commission, and the 2023 protocol with Albania establishing Italian-run migrant processing centres on Albanian territory. She has been a consistent supporter of military and financial assistance to Ukraine following Russia's 2022 invasion, distinguishing her from some other European national-conservative leaders.

Domestically, her government has advanced a constitutional reform proposal for the direct election of the Prime Minister ("premierato"), tightened rules on surrogacy, and reshaped state broadcaster RAI's leadership. Critics, including parts of the European left and press-freedom organisations, have raised concerns about media pluralism and civil liberties; supporters point to budgetary discipline and a stable government in a country historically prone to cabinet turnover.

Meloni's foreign policy blends Atlanticism, support for the EU as an intergovernmental project, close ties with the United States and United Kingdom, and outreach to North African states under the so-called "Mattei Plan" for Africa announced in 2024.