Meloni and Time magazine's cover for the Prime Minister, "among Europe's most interesting figures": a portrait of the "new nationalism."

A portrait and a long interview with Time that reconstructs the political career of the leader of the Brothers of Italy, from her beginnings on the far right to the presidency of the Council which made her emerge as " one of the most interesting figures in Europe ".
The opinion on Giorgia Meloni comes from the author of the long Time article, Massimo Calabresi, head of the Washington bureau of the historic magazine of political and economic current affairs.
The portrait of Giorgia Meloni" Where Giorgia Meloni is Leading Europe " is the title of the American magazine that published the article, which also stems from a conversation with the prime minister on July 4th at Palazzo Chigi. A " populist, nativist, and pro-Western leader, but committed to European-Atlantic alliances ," reads Calabresi's portrait of the prime minister, capable of creating a "new nationalism."
Time recalls that with Fratelli d'Italia, Meloni leads "a movement founded by the last loyalists of Benito Mussolini" and that for this reason "critics in Italy and throughout Europe have interpreted her appeals for national pride and the defense of Western 'civilization' as signs of an ultranationalist shift for the world's eighth-largest economy."
TIME's new cover: Nearly three years into her term, Giorgia Meloni has emerged as one of Europe's most interesting figures—and how she leads could change the world https://t.co/1NGdSF8bAn pic.twitter.com/Rqhp0UJvOp
— TIME (@TIME) July 24, 2025
Yet for Calabresi, Meloni "has stunned her detractors . At home, she has taken a more centrist stance on some of her more radical campaign promises, such as the idea of imposing a naval blockade to stop illegal immigration by sea. On the international stage, she has behaved more like a pragmatic conservative than a right-wing revolutionary. Meloni has embraced the European Union, NATO, and Ukraine, sought to isolate China, and worked skillfully to repair the strained relations between America and Europe at the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term."
This is how, Time reports, during her political career at Palazzo Chigi the Prime Minister “has won the esteem of leaders of every ideological persuasion , from Biden to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, up to Vice President JD Vance”.
The interviewDuring the conversation between the prime minister and Calabresi, Meloni paradoxically also asked the Time journalist a question. "Is there anything about fascism that my experience reminds you of, regarding what I'm doing in government?" the prime minister asks. The prime minister, it is reported, claims that her critics have used her far-right past as a weapon against any policy she adopts. "They've accused me of everything imaginable, from the war in Ukraine to people dying in the Mediterranean. It's simply because they have no arguments."
A Meloni who returns to the topic with annoyance, underlines Calabresi, while walking around Palazzo Chigi: “ I am not racist, I am not homophobic, I am not all the things they have said about me ”.
As Italy's first woman, she says that in her career she has "had to face ridiculous stereotypes ," but rejects the government's attempts to address them or correct other forms of discrimination, which she calls "quotas."
As for her "ideology," in the Time interview, she stated that she opposes "homogenizing" globalism , but supports European integration. When asked what kind of nationalism she supports, Meloni replied that hers is "primarily a way to defend ourselves from a globalization that hasn't worked," that her intention is to "rebuild our identity, rebuild our pride, the pride of being who we are, no matter the cost."
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