Giorgia Meloni has emerged as a kingmaker for the EU – but will she turn to centre right or far right? | Jon Henley

Even her toughest opponents admit she's played it cleverly. Yet the long-term aims of Italy's prime minister remain unclear

When she became Italy's prime minister in October 2022, Giorgia Meloni looked like Brussels' worst nightmare. Until then, the fiery leader of the Brothers of Italy - a party with neofascist roots - had seemed anything but EU-friendly.

For years, railing against the bloc had been Meloni's stock in trade: the euro amounted to enslavement, the European Commission was effectively a loan shark. Bring down this EU!" she urged the 2019 conservative CPAC conference in the US.