The favorite to replace Mario Draghi as Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, dismissed claims that a government including her national-conservative party would pose a danger to Italy, insisting that there was “nothing to fear.”
Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy Party, which leads the polls for the Italian elections, told La Stampa on Saturday that Italian left-wing think tanks were trying to scare the markets to secure a victory for the left.
Italy has been plunged into turmoil since Draghi resigned as prime minister on July 21, with elections due to be held on September 25.
Meloni also sought to assuage any fears that a coalition including her party would reduce support for Ukraine.
“As has been shown with [Brothers of Italy’s] position on Ukraine, there is nothing to fear,” she said. Brothers of Italy’s likely partners in a coalition, Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s League, have both questioned sending arms to Ukraine. But Meloni said that Italy cannot “think of being neutral without consequences.”