Italy: Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist party wins the legislative elections

It is not surprising that Giorgia Meloni celebrated her victory the day after the legislative elections held in Italy. His post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party won 26% of the votes in both the House and the Senate, ahead of Forza Italia and Lega Nord, his center-right coalition allies, both stagnating far behind. at 8%.

Clear victory for the Italian far rightto which is added a record abstention amounting to 36%.

In France, the Prime Minister cautiously expressed his desire to remain attentive to respect for human rights, “In particular respect for the right to abortion”. Mentioning this specific issue is far from trivial, as it worries even beyond the Italian borders: of course, Giorgia Meloni has hammered home that she will not return as such on the right to abortion, but we would be wrong to believe that her coming to the power will have no consequences on sexual and reproductive rights.

Will the anti-abortion policy of the Brothers of Italy soon be extended to the whole country?

For example, the policy of the Brothers of Italy in Piedmont, a region of northern Italy, shows a pro-natalist strategy, which dissuades women from resorting to abortion through economic levers. Even in the Marche, access to abortion is complicated by local health policies.

For the journalist Paolo Berizzi interviewed by France 24, the far right does “tested a model at the local level to introduce it at the national level”. Already warns against the continuation of the maneuvers of the Brothers of Italy:

“This involves the withdrawal of some rights, the introduction of tailor-made policies for traditional families and the campaign against abortion. It is an anti-progressive path, which opposes modernity and the principle of equal rights, in which roles are assigned to men and women. “

Currently, nearly three quarters of Italian doctors refuse to have an abortion.

While Hungary, led by populist Viktor Orban (considered by Giorgia Meloni as a model), has just presented a decree on abortion that requires you to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus before resorting to it, the latter goes back and threatens the abortion leaves looming instability over sexual and reproductive rights in Europe.

When Brothers of Italy won, the Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albarés had this concise and lucid sentence: ” Populisms always end in disaster “.

Photo credit: Euronews (capture)