Well done for what you didn’t do

Giorgia Meloni must have raised a glass when, just as she was celebrating her government’s record-breaking tenure, The Economist published a very balanced article commending what she has done – and perhaps even more so what she has not done, despite the threats. However, the Republic’s most stable government has lacked – and still lacks – “a certain vision” for the country, to use Charles de Gaulle’s expression. Perhaps Giorgia does have her own vision of Italy: that of a ‘right-wing’ right that does not deny its roots, but marches towards the centre of the political spectrum, wresting it from the left without allowing itself to be swallowed up by it. A ‘Nationalism 5.0’ that does not wish to leave the EU, even if it does not love it. An Italy embraced with all its contradictions, from seaside resorts to those nostalgic for the Duce. Matteo Salvini certainly lacks a vision for the country; he has even managed to bring his own ‘liquidator’ into the fold. Nor does Antonio Tajani have one; he says things that are sometimes right, but always obvious. Will this be enough for the Italians?