Record Stability

Giorgia Meloni on Friday celebrates her hard-right government becoming the longest-lasting in Italy's postwar history, with a rally in Bari expected to draw thousands of supporters, while protesters demonstrate nearby. Italy's first leader will have been in charge of the same administration for 1,413 days, one more than billionaire media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi managed, despite crises within the other parties in her governing coalition.

Italy has had 68 governments in 80 years. Past governments were toppled by crises and defections which Meloni has so far managed to avoid. Some 80 coaches will transport supporters to the capital of the southern Puglia region for a shindig thrown by Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, in an area of the port that can host up to 10,000 people.

Stability without growth

Speeches will focus on the government's achievements in just under four years in power, from over one million extra people in employment to a 21-billion-euro reduction in personal income taxes. Debt-laden Italy's fiscal stability has greatly improved, although critics say the stability has failed to translate into growth.

"Have wages increased? No. Petrol costs more, job insecurity has increased, people are retiring less and the healthcare system is functioning less effectively," said Maurizio Landini, head of the CGIL trade union. The Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-Fascist roots, won the 2022 election on a pledge to tackle illegal migration and boasts that its policies have cut migrant arrivals by 80 percent.