Skip to main content
Italy: far-right government has no answer to deepening poverty
Unable to stand up to the banks, Giorgia Meloni’s administration cannot agree to a minimum wage and has already cut essential benefits programmes, plunging thousands into turmoil, reports NICK WRIGHT
From left, The League's Matteo Salvini, Forza Italia's Silvio Berlusconi, and Brothers of Italy's Giorgia Meloni attend the final rally of the center-right coalition in central Rome, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.

HERE in Italy, when our good neighbour Carlo invited us to a feast in the village square, it seemed a good idea to accept.

Carlo, a retired bus engineer, is “assessore” to the commune and was elected on the non-partisan citizens’ list organised by our mayor Simone.

Carlo had organised a table, and from our little borgata of half a dozen houses down the hill from the village centre, there would be seven of us.

Qatargate scandal continues to unfold

Minimum wage row

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
ANGER GROWS: Protesters demonstrate in Dover against migrant
Features / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
The left must confront both far-right bigotry and the undeniable problems the exploitation of migrant workers by the ruling class creates — but there are few lessons from the global left on how to strike this balance, laments NICK WRIGHT
FACING THE RIGHT: Anti-racist protesters in Walthamstow, 202
Features / 27 March 2025
27 March 2025
Xenophobic hysteria over the statistically insignificant number of small-boat crossings deliberately conceals how capitalism manipulates population flows for profit — if we can explain that, we’ll beat the right, argues NICK WRIGHT
clark
Book Review / 18 March 2025
18 March 2025
NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking during the Reform UK
Features / 11 March 2025
11 March 2025
NICK WRIGHT examines how Farage’s party has attracted five distinct voter tribes with incompatible views on economics, immigration and state intervention — presenting both a challenge and opportunity for left organising
Similar stories
Giorgia Meloni
Rise of the right in Europe / 27 May 2024
27 May 2024
In the first of a series on the rise of the European far right, independent leftist journalist GIULIANO MARRUCCI says that Italyʼs coalition, since taking office, has completely adapted to the Establishment
Demonstrators clash with the police during a protest on the
Features / 9 May 2024
9 May 2024
Liberation Day celebrations have brought the dark reality of the Giorgia Meloni government’s fascist origins to the surface as the nation's industrial and political struggles boil over, reports NICK WRIGHT