World

Italian far-right leader Giorgia Meloni and her allies began Tuesday what is likely to be a weeks-long process of forming a new government, with crises looming on several fronts.

Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, which triumphed in Sunday’s elections, has no experience of power but must assemble a cross-party team to tackle sky-high inflation and energy prices, and relations with a wary Europe.

The 45-year-old is hoping to be the first woman to lead Italy as prime minister, but needs her allies, Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and former Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, for a majority in parliament.

The division of the top jobs — notably economy, foreign affairs, the defence and interior ministries — will always be political but now, more than ever, “will have to reflect areas of expertise”, the Stampa daily noted.

In the past, it has taken anything between four and 12 weeks for a new administration to take office.

But the first deadline for action is coming up fast, with debt-laden Italy due to submit its draft plan for next year’s budget to Brussels by October 15.

President Sergio Mattarella will begin consultations on who should lead the new government only once the Senate and Chamber presidents have been elected by parliament, which meets on October 13.

With families and businesses struggling with huge bills aggravated by the Ukraine war, sorting out the budget will be “like scaling Everest without oxygen tanks for the new cabinet”, the Corriere della Sera daily said.

Meloni sought to reassure investors during the election campaign that, despite her radical past, she will be a safe pair of hands.

But the Italian ten-year bond rate increased to its highest level since October 2013 on Tuesday morning.

And the gap between German and Italian interest rates, the closely watched spread, rose above 250 points for the first time since the depths of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020.

– Non-controversial, credible –

The European Commission approved Tuesday the second instalment of post-pandemic recovery funds to Italy, worth 21 billion euros.

But Meloni has said she wants to renegotiate the deal with Brussels, potentially putting the rest of the fund — worth a total of almost 200 billion euros — at risk.

EU economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said he urged “the next Italian government to ensure that this opportunity is seized”, saying it was key to putting Italy on a path to “strong and durable growth”.

Agnese Ortolani, senior Europe analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said she expected Meloni “to continue to reassure the markets by picking a non-controversial figure for the role of finance minister”.

“She will also want to avoid reputational damage by nominating someone who is not perceived as credible by the markets,” she said in a note.

Meloni’s allies have been pitching for heavy-weight positions, Salvini wanting his old job as interior minister back, and Berlusconi eyeing president of the Senate.

Their disappointing performance in the polls, however, with neither reaching 10 percent while Brothers of Italy’s secured 26 percent, means Meloni may already be planning to sideline them.

– Friction –

Salvini and Berlusconi do not see eye-to-eye with Meloni on several fronts, including on sending weapons to Ukraine.

With all the potential friction ahead, winning the elections “was almost the easy part”, commented Luciano Fontana, chief editor of the Corriere della Sera daily.

Berlusconi downplayed concerns he would rock the boat Tuesday, saying his party was ready to make compromises “in the country’s interests”.

His ally Antonio Tajani, a former European parliament president, is tipped as possible foreign minister, an appointment which could both appease Berlusconi and assuage international fears that Meloni’s Eurosceptic populist party plans to pick fights with Brussels.

Salvini, 49, may prove more difficult. He is currently on trial for allegedly abusing his powers as interior minister in 2019 to block migrants at sea, which could rule him out returning to the job.

“Defusing Salvini” without sparking a backlash that could seriously weaken the nascent executive is “Meloni’s first test”, the Repubblica daily said.

Labour leader Keir Starmer argued Tuesday he was ready to lead Britain out of economic crisis, as a new poll gave his once-fractured party its biggest lead in two decades over the ruling Conservatives.

The head of the main opposition told its annual conference that new Prime Minister Liz Truss and the Tories had “lost control of the British economy”, as the UK reels from soaring inflation, imminent recession and a weakening currency.

His speech in the northwestern English city of Liverpool was met with fervent applause from the Labour rank and file — who can now scent power, after 12 years in the political wilderness and bouts of ideological infighting.

It came the day after the pound crashed to an unprecedented low against the dollar. “And for what?” Starmer queried. “For tax cuts for the richest one percent in our society.

“Don’t forget, don’t forgive,” he said. “The only way to stop this is with a Labour government.”

The pound’s plunge has been blamed on a mini-budget unveiled Friday by Britain’s new finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, which cut taxes — including for the highest earners — and raised government borrowing.

The currency rebounded somewhat Tuesday, but remains vulnerable amid market concerns that the tax-slashing plan could drive up interest rates and derail public finances.

“What we’ve seen from the government in the past few days has no precedent,” Starmer said, vowing instead investment in healthcare, education and a “green prosperity plan” against climate change.

Condemning the patchwork of ownership of UK energy firms, including by foreign governments, he said that within a year of winning power Labour would create a nationally owned entity called “Great British Energy”.

– ‘Cavalry is coming’ –

The latest survey by YouGov showed Labour 17 points ahead of the Tories, its biggest lead since 2001 and the era of Tony Blair, who won an unprecedented three general elections for the party from 1997.

A separate YouGov poll gave support to Labour’s narrative about the Truss-Kwarteng budget plan, finding 57 percent of Britons think the measures collectively were unfair.

That was the worst score for any financial statement since the Conservatives took power from Labour in 2010.

Starmer’s health spokesman Wes Streeting echoed the confident tone heard from delegates in Liverpool, telling Sky News that “the cavalry is coming with Labour”.

Starmer, 60, took over the Labour leadership in April 2020 from the left-wing Jeremy Corbyn but initially struggled to break through with the public during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Tories’ problems under their previous scandal-plagued prime minister Boris Johnson, and now the spiralling financial crisis, have revived Labour’s fortunes following Corbyn’s divisive five-year tenure. 

– Shifting the narrative –

In his speech, Starmer said it was now “the party of the centre ground” and of “sound money” — as the Tory government struggles to reassure jittery investors at home and abroad.

In an unusual move, attendees at this year’s conference on Sunday sang the national anthem “God Save the King”, beneath images of the late queen Elizabeth II.

Fears the rendition would be marred by boos or heckles from the Corbyn-leaning left proved unfounded.

Starmer was unabashed in trying to grab the mantle of patriotism as well as economic competence from the Tories.

“Country first, party second,” he said of his leadership, hailing Labour as once again “the political wing of the British people” — echoing Blair who previously deployed the same phrase. 

He also earned sustained applause for declaring a Labour government would maintain Britain’s staunch support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Starmer has vowed not to reverse the Conservatives’ “hard Brexit” deal, which took Britain out of the European Union’s single market and customs union.

That has frustrated some in the party, and there is also disquiet from its traditional union backers about support for workers on strike over pay as inflation surges.

But overall, according to University of Exeter lecturer Richard Jobson, Starmer has shifted the electorate’s view of his party.

Traditional views of Labour as profligate and the Tories as fiscally responsible “no longer feel either coherent or convincing”, said Jobson, a historian who specialises in the opposition party.

“Starmer knows this and the current polling suggests that he is in a good position to capitalise on the collapse of these narratives electorally.”

More than 75 people have died in Iran’s crackdown on 11 nights of unrest sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a rights group said, as Western nations pile pressure on the Islamic republic to end the violence.

The Iranian authorities’ official death toll has remained at 41 since Saturday, including several members of the security forces, as the country is rocked by its biggest wave of protests in almost three years.

Demonstrators took to the streets again on Monday night, as they have every night since Amini’s death on September 16 following her arrest for allegedly breaching the country’s strict rules on hijab headscarves and modest clothing, witnesses told AFP.

In Sanandaj, the capital of Amini’s western home province of Kurdistan, women climbed onto the roofs of cars to tear off their headscarves in front of cheering crowds, images published by Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) showed, with police nowhere to be seen.

Tehran crowds have shouted “death to the dictator”, calling for the end of the more than three-decade rule of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 83.

Video shot from several floors above street level, purportedly in the city of Tabriz, showed people protesting to the sound of tear gas canisters being fired by security forces.

IHR said at least 76 people have been killed in the crackdown that has seen sweeping restrictions imposed on the internet, including blocks on Instagram and WhatsApp.

Officials said Monday they had made more than 1,200 arrests. Those taken into custody have included activists, lawyers and journalists as well as protesters.

In Semnan province, east of Tehran, 26 women were among 155 people arrested, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.

In Gilan province, a hotspot of the recent protests on the Caspian Sea coast, the intelligence arm of the Revolutionary Guards detained 12 people, the Tasnim news agency said Tuesday.

US think-tank Freedom House on Tuesday condemned Iran’s “repression of its people” and called on “other governments to stand with these courageous protesters and hold Iranian officials to account for their abuses”.

– Tensions with West –

Tensions with Western powers grew as France on Monday issued its “strongest condemnation” over the “violent repression” by security forces, Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador and Canada announced sanctions.

A day earlier, the European Union had deplored the crackdown and Tehran said it had called in the British and Norwegian envoys.

“We call on the international community to decisively and unitedly take practical steps to stop the killing and torture of protesters,” said IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

Video footage and death certificates obtained by IHR showed that “live ammunition is being directly fired at protesters,” he charged.  

Riot police in black body armour have beaten protesters with truncheons in running street battles, and students have torn down large pictures of the supreme leader and his late predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in recent video footage published by AFP.

At least 20 journalists have been arrested, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

– ‘Demands of the people’ –

The Iranian judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, has stressed “the need for decisive action without leniency” against the protest instigators.

But a powerful Shiite cleric long aligned with the country’s ultra-conservative establishment has urged authorities to take a softer line. 

“The leaders must listen to the demands of the people, resolve their problems and show sensitivity to their rights,” said Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani.

The bloody crackdown has drawn condemnation from Western government, clouding diplomatic efforts to revive a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that was abandoned by then US president Donald Trump in 2018.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who has led those efforts, on Sunday slammed Iran for its “widespread and disproportionate use of force against nonviolent protesters”. 

The United States last week imposed sanctions against the Iranian morality police, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that his own country would follow suit as part of a sanctions package “on dozens of individuals and entities”.

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