Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni holds first address, distancing herself from fascism | DW News

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni addressed parliament on Tuesday for the first time since she got the job. Meloni, the leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, has formed the country’s most right-wing government since Benito Mussolini. On Tuesday, in an apparent bid to reassure Western allies, Meloni sought to distance herself from fascism. “I have never felt any sympathy or closeness to anti-democratic regimes... fascism included,“ Meloni told lawmakers. She vowed to fight “any form of racism, antisemitism, political violence [and] discrimination.“ Meloni has been keen on moving her party from the political fringes. Ahead of the election campaign, she apparently sent out internal memos to party groups instructing them to refrain from making extreme statements and references to fascism. Still, concern has grown in Italy and among its neighbors over civil rights, as well as Rome’s involvement in alliances like NATO. Subscribe: https: