The Guardian view on Italian post-fascists: headed for the mainstream? | Editorial

The rise to prominence of the Brothers of Italy party and its abrasive leader, Giorgia Meloni, is a disturbing development

By the turbulent standards of Italian politics, it has been a relatively stable spring. The country's new technocrat prime minister, Mario Draghi, was appointed in February to steady the ship after the previous centre-left coalition imploded. He has made a reasonably solid start. A Covid economic recovery plan is in place and Italy is cautiously welcoming tourists back to its shores. Mr Draghi's unity government, ranging from the centre-left Democratic party to Matteo Salvini's League on the hard right, is still intact, although Mr Salvini reserves the right to heckle from within on matters such as the pace of unlocking the hospitality industry.

Outside this fragile circle of consensus, however, a new and abrasive political force has come of age. Last week, polls confirmed that Brothers of Italy, a formerly minor party with its roots in the post-fascist right, is the fastest-growing political force in the country, second only in popularity to Mr Salvini's League. In the 2018 elections, Brothers of Italy, whose name is derived from the first words of the Italian national anthem, scored 4% of the vote. Their current ratings stand at over 19%, just behind the League, and supporters have been noisily celebrating the overtaking of the centre-left Democratic party.