Meloni’s shift to the European centre-right
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reportedly advised UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch this week to reject any deal with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and “stand your ground.” Meloni has denied giving that specific counsel. The episode stands out because it coincides with pressure on her coalition from a harder anti-immigration force led by former general Roberto Vannacci, and with her public distancing from US President Donald Trump after earlier alignment on migration and culture issues.
Meloni rose in 2022 on nationalist, Christian-conservative and migration-control platforms that alarmed EU centrists and were labelled far-right. In office she has pursued a constructive approach inside EU institutions rather than Orbán-style confrontation. Her Albania migrant-processing deal and pressure for external returns helped drive the EU’s rightward shift on migration policy, including elements of the new Migration Pact. Italy’s response during the recent Ceuta crisis further illustrated her influence. At the same time she has faced criticism from her right for becoming “watered-down.”
Key tensions include whether this insider strategy delivers lasting policy wins or simply absorbs populist energy into the establishment. Vannacci’s challenge tests her base. Her falling-out with Trump and warmer mainstream coverage raise open questions about the durability of the new centre-right strand she has helped create across Europe, and whether other national conservatives will follow the same path or reject it.
Sources: UnHerd.
Green Party’s push against press freedom
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called for a government inquiry into the “culture and behaviour” of the British media, linking it to coverage of the late Cambridge academic Jason Arday and to reporting on recent heatwaves that he labelled misinformation protecting fossil-fuel interests. He has promoted petitions for foreign-ownership bans, a social-media levy and stronger regulation, and argued that “freedom of the press should never have been freedom to own and dominate the press.” A party conference motion backed by dozens of members seeks state regulators to address “racism” and “ableism” in media and to force newspapers into a state regulator while expanding Ofcom powers over online “hateful” content.
The Greens have moved from environmental focus toward culture-war positions, including earlier expulsions over gender-critical views. Polanski’s own past claims and tax issues have drawn critical coverage that he now frames as illegitimate. Activists have previously sought police action against journalists over disagreements.
The episode highlights contradictions between free-speech rhetoric and demands for state control of narrative. It leaves open whether mainstream parties will resist or accommodate such regulatory pressure, and how far media self-censorship or formal rules will extend in response to activist campaigns framed around harm and misinformation.
Sources: Spiked.