Briciole, beyond the rhetoric

On 4 September, Giorgia Meloni went down in history for the wrong reason: not for having changed Italy, but for not having fallen yet. With 1,413 days in office, she has surpassed ‘Berlusconi II’, the longest-serving government in the history of the Republic. The figure is true, the rhetoric somewhat less so: longevity is a merit when it means reforms, not when it coincides with a fragmented opposition that has made Palazzo Chigi a safe haven due to the inaction of others. In March, the referendum on justice – rejected by the Italian people – cracked the Prime Minister’s aura of invincibility. Beyond Italy’s borders, her position is creaking: with Trump, the rapport remains purely media-driven; with Spain, the Schengen crisis is more propaganda than diplomacy. On the security front, the drop in arrivals is a trophy, but the ‘Albania model’ remains a showcase for failure: millions spent to accommodate just 25 migrants out of the 35,000 promised. Meanwhile, the healthcare system is crumbling and real wages remain stagnant. History does not reward those who stay the longest, but those who leave the country in a better state than they found it.