BARI: Giorgia Meloni celebrated her hard-right government becoming the longest-lasting in Italy’s postwar history with arally in the southern port of Bari on Friday, as she gears up for elections next year.
‘Today, our government becomes the longest-serving in the history of the Italian Republic,’ Meloni wrote onX.
‘I welcome this with gratitude and a strong sense of responsibility. Because stability is not a record to be displayed, but the condition that allows a nation to plan, decide, keep its commitments, and be respected,’ she said.
Meloni became Italy’s first woman prime minister on Oct 22, 2022, and has been in charge of the same administrationfor 1,413 days one more than billionaire media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi managed.
Thousands of peoplegathered in the port for the rally, organised by the 49-year-old’s Brothers of Italy party.
There were food stalls selling sandwiches, crepes and Bari’s traditional ‘Assassin Spaghetti’ pasta with a spicy, smoky sauce.
Maurizio Cecconelli, 61, a lawyer from Terni in central Italy, said Meloni’s government had shown ‘tangible results’.
‘Let’s hope she gets another five years to achieve all the things she wants,’ he said.
Salvatore Sinopoli, a 37-year-old engineer, said Meloni had ‘restored Italy’s international position’.-AFP