PESCARA. “The time has come to up the ante.” Giorgia Meloni chooses the beach of Pescara to announce his candidacy in the European elections on 8 and 9 June: «I have decided to take the field to lead the lists of Brothers of Italy in all the electoral constituencies, if I survive», he says while in the tensile structure the celebration erupts with flags waving, stadium chants of “Giorgia, Giorgia” and delegates arriving from all over Italy who are determined to applaud ever louder. Only the name: «I ask Italians to write my name, my first name», states the prime minister while the life of a seaside city passes behind her with people walking, «if you want to tell me that you still believe in me, write Giorgia on the card, because I am and will always be one of you.” The Italian anthem begins and the three days of FdI to launch the European dream ends, the Giorgia beach party, someone says, paraphrasing Jovanotti’s concert on the sea.
The President of the Council of Ministers arrives in the 2,750 square meter village – 5 tensile structures on the free beach of Nave di Cascella with the blue of Europe dominating the scene – and attends the speeches of his deputies, ministers Tajani on stage and Salvini in video conference while walking with his daughter, and then he takes in every light, even those of the two pointed headlights: a blue suit that recalls the flat sea behind him, Meloni speaks for 73 minutes. He only stops to drink two sips of water from the bottle, for the rest it is a non-stop rally: “I have always considered myself a soldier and soldiers, when they have to, do not hesitate to take the front line.” With this spirit, the Prime Minister opens the referendum on herself: «We are faced with a decisive battle, at a real crossroads that does not allow us to back down, everyone must be ready to do their part and as always I intend to do the my”. And again: «I do what I do only and exclusively for Italians. There is no other sustainable reason to live this life, I promise you. I am only interested in the judgment of citizens, which I respect and will always respect.”
Meloni’s entry into the field in 2024 is reminiscent of Silvio Berlusconi’s set in 1994: the village in the center of Pescara is a great electoral advert. The flags and t-shirts were there before, now there are also selfies and live broadcasts on social networks to always keep the thread tight with the voters: «We are facing a decisive battle, at a real crossroads that cannot allows us to step back, everyone must be ready to do their part and as always I intend to do mine.”
Meloni also talks about the complaints about the occupation of the beach and the denied sea view, presented by the communist Rifondazione and the civic list Radici in Comune with the Italian Green-Left Alliance: «The communist party still exists», says the prime minister to the same audience that little earlier he had given an ovation to Enrico Berlinguer, «they presented a complaint, or rather two, so much so that an investigation was started but we do things well, we are serious people and we are not afraid of other people’s ideas».
Pescara and Abruzzo are doing well for the premier, even in the rain: it was raining on March 5th when Meloni took part in the rally ahead of the regional elections to give a boost to the outgoing president Marcus Marsilio. This time, however, it’s sunny: around the Nave di Cascella, the big screens relaunch the rally and the crowd gathers: «I won’t take a single minute away from government activity to campaign on my name», promises Meloni who appeals to her people, “since I am not the secretary of the Democratic Party, I am sure that the party will give me a hand in this electoral campaign”. And the team applauds, from the front row of ministers and parliamentarians to the delegates who also came from Trento and Catania. “I saw the same passion as when we were a small party,” says the leader. And Meloni recalls the stages of the climb: the “great disappointment” for the missing quorum at the 2014 European elections; then 6.5% in 2019 and, subsequently, the victory of the political elections in 2022. «It took us six years to reach that 6.5% and another three years to reach 26.5% and become the first party in Italy. What we built was not the result of chance and it was not luck: it was obstinacy.” And, says the prime minister, “a year and a half after the political elections, Italy has also returned to Europe”. The slogan of the party is “Italy changes Europe”. «We are already doing it», observes Meloni, «we want a centre-right majority in the European Parliament. We can bring the Italian model to Europe. June 8 and 9 is a historic occasion: the destiny of our nation also passes through here.”
Meloni launches from Pescara the “difficult but not impossible” challenge of “sending the center-left into opposition in Europe too” thanks to “a majority that brings together the forces of the center-right”. Meloni speaks in Pescara itself that he will also vote for the municipal elections in just over a month. But this city, which has been on the news for three days, is also a stain for FdI: in the regional elections on 10 March, the Democratic Party won here, the first party with 28.43%, while FdI, breathing down Forza Italia took 15.55% in addition to the 9.18% of the presidential Marsilio list. And so the convention of at least 500 thousand euros also serves to re-establish who is the truly leading party: «The result we have obtained as FdI is not an established fact, we must continue to deserve it».
The speech – from support for Ukraine to the rejection of the Superbonus up to mentioning three popes, Benedict XVI, John Paul II and Pope Francis, and also Falcone and Borsellino’s «follow the money» to discover the organizations of the journeys of hope of the migrants – goes away smoothly even if, suddenly, a shiver passes through the FdI colonels: «I’m doing my best but I feel like I’m on a roller coaster, I’m here and I try to stay still but if you see that I’m skidding you won’t worry, I can do it”, says the president referring to the problem with the otoliths, “you know this thing that gets in my ears, that makes me dizzy”. It’s just a moment: the prime minister closes her eyes, starts again and heads towards the 73rd minute. “The time has come to raise the stakes, let’s do it together.” Giorgia Meloni comes down from the stage and, outside, the crowd waits for “Giorgia”: Meloni gets into the car, rolls down the window, waves and receives applause. The dismantling of the pavilions begins today: the authorizations expire on May 5th.
