Paris, Rome When Giorgia Meloni received the government contract in Italy, a congratulatory tweet soon followed from France: “Everywhere in Europe the patriots are coming to power and with them the Europe of the nations that we are demanding,” wrote Marine Le Pen last Saturday. And she sent “all my wishes for success” to Meloni and to the new Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
At first glance, what belongs together comes together. Le Pen, head of the Rassemblement National (RN), like Meloni, is one of the ultra-right in Europe. Both have a lot in common: They follow a strict anti-immigrant policy. And they clearly put national interests ahead of European ones.
But the once good relationship between the right-wing icons has in fact cooled down significantly. The initial friendship has now turned into a love-hate relationship – for reasons of power politics, but also for family reasons.
The parliamentary elections in Rome reversed the relationship between the two. Meloni has achieved what Le Pen has so far tried in vain: to take power in her home country. The French woman has wanted to become President three times, and failed three times, most recently in April against incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
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Meloni managed to get hold of the prime minister’s office at the first attempt: her post-fascist party Fratelli d’Italia was the clear winner of the elections at the end of September, and on Wednesday evening the 45-year-old also cleared the last hurdle and won the vote of confidence in parliament. Now her alliance, which she forged together with Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Lega and conservative Forza Italia, has reached its goal.
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The relationship between the two women had actually started well. Le Pen has long been a role model for Meloni. The Italian, who founded her party ten years ago together with right-wing comrades-in-arms, has been on social media from the start, documenting every meeting with Le Pen. There has been regular contact since 2013.
Two years later they even appeared together on French television. At that time, Melonis Fratelli was still bobbing around in the single-digit polls, and Le Pen won almost 18 percent of the votes in the 2012 presidential election. In the program “Dimartedi” the Frenchwoman was asked what she thought of the young Italian right. Le Pen replied somewhat didactically: “You dropped taboos. They deserve respect and support.”
Meloni declared years ago that she admired Le Pen’s political vision, which “is not about right and left, but about up and down”. According to the French media, the last public meeting was in 2016.
A year later, Meloni called on the French to vote for their right-wing colleague – but not in this year’s elections. None of the second-round candidates “represent the Conservative camp to which I belong,” she said. The RN also emphasized that no encounter between the two was planned, neither in the short nor in the medium term.
Le Pen emphasizes loyalty to Salvini
Meloni has been President of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) since 2020. The right-wing family of parties includes the Spanish populists from Vox, the Sweden Democrats and Poland’s ruling party PiS. Global partners include the Republicans in the USA – Donald Trump has always been a political point of reference for Meloni. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, was even the guest of honor at a party event in Rome in 2018.
A close connection for years.
(Photo: AFP)
The man who has now become Deputy Prime Minister in Italy caused irritation in the relationship between the two women: Salvini. There have been close ties between his Lega and Le Pens RN for years. Together they form the Identity and Democracy party in the European Parliament, the group also includes the Austrian FPÖ and the nine members of the German AfD.
Lorenzo Fontana in particular is said to have a good connection to Le Pen, the Lega Vice was recently elected President of the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament. He once called the alliance with Le Pen “historic”.
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Le Pen even cites allegiance to Salvini to explain the lack of relationship with Meloni. “I’ve known her for a long time, but I no longer have any political contact with her,” she recently explained. “Our historic ally is the Lega, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together tomorrow.”
Meloni stands by the USA and NATO, Le Pen is pro-Russia
The biggest differences between Meloni and Le Pen are their international focus. Meloni is a committed transatlanticist and stands by NATO and Ukraine. Le Pen, on the other hand, has consistently displayed her admiration for Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, much like Salvini. In France, Meloni is more ideologically close to former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, who spread identitarian slogans.
But there is much more behind the ideological differences. It is a personal story, as so often in the history of the Le Pen dynasty. The vice-president of Zemmour’s party is Marion Maréchal – Marine Le Pen’s niece. She left her aunt’s party a few years ago because she could no longer identify with her ideas. Maréchal is also married to Vincenzo Sofo – an MEP for Melonis Fratelli.
“Giorgia Meloni is clearly right-wing, the RN is above all populist,” Sofo tries to explain the differences between the two women. Spicy detail on the side: On the day of the wedding, in September 2021, Le Pen held an election campaign event in Fréjus in southern France. She only congratulated the couple via Twitter.
More: The Italy of Giorgia Meloni – journey through a torn country