Her main campaign commitment Georgia Meloni and his far-right alliance was supposed to do what no one else had done before him: stop the ships taking them to Italy. Immigrantsto then move on to other parts of it Europe.

The social media he runs was dominated by the slogan “Blocco Navye” (i.e. “Naval blockade”), and was accompanied by pictures of smugglers’ ships crammed with people.

During her election campaign, Meloni promised to end the influx of migrants and prevent boats and ships from reaching Italian shores, no matter who was on them and for whatever reason forced these people to risk their lives to reach Europe.

Her first hundred days as prime minister were seen as successful as she did not appear to embrace the hard-line far-right politics that many feared, while she also had positive relationships with world leaders.

But then the boats began to arrive, and they continued to arrive without stopping.

Triple Run

By April 21, over 35,000 people had arrived by boat in Italy, more than three times the number last year.

A recent poll shows that support for Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which won 34% of the vote in the election, has fallen to almost 29%.

Some believe that no one believed that Meloni could stop the influx, so her decline in popularity is due to other issues, such as her support for Ukraine and her relationship with China.

But stopping the boats on the last leg of their journey to Europe is treating a “symptom” of the problem, not the crisis itself, Khan Byrens, head of the Migration Policy Institute, told CNN.

“If you ask immigration experts if (Meloni) can stop the boats, the answer is no,” she notes, adding that the only thing that has been able to “slow down” immigration flows is the Covid pandemic.

European responsibility

Byrnes, however, says the boats will keep coming until Europe agrees to tackle the problem at the root, providing opportunities for earlier asylum applications and trying to help solve problems in countries from which migrants are coming.

“These commitments raise great expectations, and when the chaotic situation cannot be managed, we will see how member states act alone and unilaterally decide to resort to counteraction, border violence or other worse methods,” the expert explains.

In any case, Meloni’s election was a significant moment in Italian politics, as she became the first female prime minister and the youngest to hold the post. The Italian people have spoken and chosen her for everything she represents. However, whether she will be able to fulfill her promises remains an unanswered question for everyone.

^{Source: CNN}