Italy’s Meloni rejects fascist nostalgia after youth group scandal

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has told members of the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party she is “angry and saddened” after an investigative body published two reports showing members of the youth party giving fascist salutes and using racist and anti-Semitic language.

“No place [in FdI] for racist or anti-Semitic views, just as there is no room for nostalgia for 20th-century totalitarianism, or any other silly expression of folklore,” Ms. Meloni wrote in a letter.

She added that she “does not want to waste time with those who, either knowingly or unknowingly, want to be tools in the hands of our enemies.”

“Those who cannot understand this, those who have not understood the path [we are on] or those who do not keep up cannot become members of the Italian Brotherhood.”

In the first report released by the investigative site Fanpage in mid-June, members of the national youth organization FdI (Gioventù Nazionale – GN) could be heard chanting slogans such as “For a cleaner world, come back, Uncle Benito” [Mussolini]” and “Sieg Heil!”

These videos were collected by undercover journalists who infiltrated the group by posing as potential new members.

Two weeks later, a second investigation found that some members and local leaders had made derogatory remarks about people with disabilities, as well as racist and anti-Semitic comments.

The fanpage said that after the report was published, several former members of the FdI youth group got in touch to share their experiences in the group. Many said they had witnessed similar behavior in local branches across Italy.

Several senior GN members named in the investigation are seen as rising stars in the main Brothers of Italy party.

One of them, Elisa Segnini, who can be heard in one of the videos saying she “never stopped being racist or fascist”, has resigned as cabinet secretary to an FdI MP.

Local branch leader Flaminia Pace has resigned from her senior position in the GN after she was caught on camera mocking a Jewish FdI senator, Ester Mieli.

Commenting on the Nazi-inspired slogans and anti-Semitic rhetoric used by GN members, Italian senator and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre, 93, told Italian television: “The wrongdoings that have emerged recently… have always existed, but were previously hidden rather than flaunted.”

“At my age, do I have to witness this again? Will I be kicked out of my country again, like before?” Ms. Segre added.

FdI Minister Luca Ciriani said the reports were based on “fragmentary, context-free images taken in private settings”.

However, other members of the FdI party condemned the actions of the youth wing members. Senate President Ignazio La Russa said the language used by the GN was “contrary to the values ​​of our party” and condemned “all forms of racism and anti-Semitism”.

Meloni did not immediately respond to Fanpage’s inquiry, however. She first acknowledged that last week, when she criticized the channel, saying it used “methods that deserve to be [authoritarian] regime” as it penetrated the youth base of her party.

“Why [Fanpage] “Just do this with FdI?,” she asked, adding: “Is this allowed?”

But she also added that “racist, anti-Semitic or nostalgic ideas” were “incompatible with the Italian Brotherhood”.

Simona Malpezzi, an opposition senator from the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), said Ms Meloni should “thank the Fanpage journalists for shedding light on an extremely serious issue involving the youth wing.” [Ms Meloni] very proud of… She should stay away from those who were once considered the party’s rising stars.”

Ms Meloni has previously praised GN. At a political event last December, she described her young supporters as “fantastic”, saying: “A lot of people envy us because we have young people who still believe in politics… That is rare and precious.”

Since becoming leader of the right-wing coalition and Italy’s prime minister in 2022, Ms Meloni has often found herself at the centre of controversy over her party’s perceived links to Italy’s fascist past.

In June, the spokesman for the agriculture minister and key Meloni ally Francesco Lollobrigida resigned after wiretapped calls and text messages containing racist and anti-Semitic comments were published.