Italy's PM Meloni Faces Referendum Defeat: The Trump Factor's Cost
Giorgia Meloni, Italy's first female PM, has won praise for her pragmatism. But her recent referendum defeat suggests voters may be tiring of the 'Trump factor' in Italian politics.
Giorgia Meloni, Italy's first female prime minister, has a long history of defying expectations. She holds the record as Italy's youngest cabinet member, at 31, and is the country's first woman to lead the government. After taking office in autumn 2022, she quickly put to rest concerns that her post-fascist background would make her a foreign policy radical. Meloni's staunch support for Ukraine and a pragmatic relationship with EU leaders won her international credibility.
However, the defeat she suffered in this week's referendum – where Italians rejected the government's proposed constitutional reform of the judiciary by 53.2% to 46.8% – appears all the more significant against this backdrop of accomplishment. Riccardo Alcaro, head of research at IAI, Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome, explores the implications of this setback for the Italian prime minister.
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Meloni's referendum defeat suggests that Italian voters may be growing weary of the
