Since 1998 the heirs of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) have held a political festival in Rome called Atreju every year. They named him after a character from The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, another writer who, like J.R.R. Tolkien inspired the fantastic world of post-fascist youth. The event has evolved like its political leaders over the years and is celebrated this weekend in the gardens of the Roman Castel Sant’Angelo with special pomp, a gigantic Christmas tree and a skating rink included.
The annual party of the Brothers of Italy in 2024 is a celebration of the power of the party and the consensus generated by its leader, Giorgia Meloni, who managed to bring together this Saturday the magnate Elon Musk, admired by populists around the world, and the first British Minister Rishi Sunak, with whom he has a special rapport. They are the stars of the Italian ultra-conservative Christmas festival, along with the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, who despite being a socialist also maintains an excellent relationship with Meloni and together they have just signed a pact to bring immigrants rescued by Italy to Albania.
Meloni, recently returned from Brussels, sat next to him to listen to Musk. The founder of Tesla and CEO of Space He appeared with his son to defend birth policies. “Italy is a great country to invest in, but if there are no new generations there will be no workers. Please make more Italians,” she cried, before launching barbs against illegal immigration, the “woke ideology,” environmentalist policies or the “too many rules” that he believes the European Union imposes on companies.
Next comes the turn of the British prime minister, who has returned the favor to Meloni after she was the only G7 leader to attend a UK summit on artificial intelligence last month. After Brexit, Sunak has found in Meloni’s thinking a conservative ally in the EU, with whom he shares the same ideas against immigration and a good personal relationship. The leader of the Tories plans both a bilateral meeting with Meloni and a trilateral meeting with the Albanian Rama to talk about immigration, after the United Kingdom has signed another pact with Rwanda similar to that of Italy and Albania due to the rejection of justice on your first try.
Everything, waiting for Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, to participate this Sunday, a few days after predicting that a day would come when the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, would be hanged by his feet, evoking the death of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his public exhibition in Piazza Loreto in Milan in 1945 with his lover Clara Petacci. Abascal’s words have also generated strong controversy in Italy, but it was not enough for his friend and ally Meloni to withdraw her invitation.
The message from the Vox leader comes after the tensions between the Italian and Spanish Governments after Sánchez assured that the extreme right governs Italy. And it is the second time in a month that the Italian president hugs Abascal, after receiving him after the socialist president’s inauguration to listen to his indignation over the amnesty law. This Saturday Abascal was sitting in the front row, enthusiastically applauding Musk next to Meloni.
