Giorgia Meloni gave a long interview to the weekly Who in which she talks about both the controversies that involve her on a political level and her private life.
“The left accuses me of everything,” complains the Prime Minister. “Centenary of the March on Rome? It’s Meloni’s fault. Bologna massacre? It’s Meloni’s fault. Cutro shipwreck? It’s Meloni’s fault. Femicide? It’s Meloni’s fault. It’s a joke now, and what they don’t understand is that people with common sense, even those on the left, see it.”
“On the women’s issue,” the prime minister observes, “I believe that the left has not overcome the shock of seeing that it was the right that expressed the first woman prime minister in Italy. For them it was unimaginable, but I think it was inevitable.”
“There is a substantial difference – according to Meloni – between conservative and liberal thought and that of the left: we believe that merit comes first, they think that labels come first. Result: in our country there were no preclusions for anyone, but everyone had to demonstrate their value and give their best. In their country, women have often thought that the role covered had to be a concession from a predominantly male ruling class, or an obligation imposed through gender quotas. But when you pretend to be the boss because the quotas say so, you are unable to exercise leadership. This is why it has always been the right, and not the left, to express the main roles of female leadership”.
“I – the prime minister emphasizes – do not think that women’s rights are defended with battles like being called ‘the President’. Because if they call you president, or councilor, but you are excluded from the world of work because you have children, I fear that equality is still a long way off. The real challenge is to build a world in which women are not discriminated against because they are mothers, or potential mothers. This is why we have concentrated many of the few resources we had on working mothers”.
Meloni then answers a question about alleged disagreements with Marina Berlusconi, who recently declared that on civil rights she is more in tune “with the common-sense left”. “An important rule that I have learned,” the Prime Minister comments, “is that when you read an interview you should not start from the title, but from the text, because the two things often do not coincide, and the text is more faithful, more argued, than the title. That is what I did with Marina Berlusconi’s interview, whose tone was very different from the title that we saw bouncing around”.
“For weeks,” the prime minister claims, “they have been trying to tell of Marina and Piersilvio Berlusconi’s substantial intolerance towards the Government, but that is not the reality I live. I have relationships with both of them, I respect both of them, and I do not consider them hostile people. That is what the left would like, one of its many hopes that will not be realized.”
“The goal of the opposition that flatters them today – adds Meloni – is to use them against us, and then possibly use someone else against them. We have already seen it happen. But we, like Marina and Piersilvio Berlusconi, know these methods well, because they are the ones used against Silvio. The left can continue to bask in its hopes, if it helps them feel better in these difficult times, so be it”.
In addition to political events, the Prime Minister also addresses some details of her private life in the interview, starting with the way in which her daughter Ginevra, 7 years old, experiences her mother’s institutional commitments.
“The most frequent question Ginevra asks me,” Meloni says, “is: Mom, why did you choose this job? I think she understands in broad terms that what I do is important, but not enough to consider it right that that job takes away my time with her.”
“When he came back from China he wrote me a note in which he told me that every time he blows out the candles he expresses the desire to spend more time with me. It made me feel very guilty. Usually it is said that it is not a question of quantity of time you spend with your children, but of quality. I think that is true in the abstract, but not in the concrete. Children want, rightly, for you to be there when something happens that excites them, because happiness needs to be shared”.
“With children,” the prime minister reflects, “you never know if you’re making the right choice. Being a parent is a job that no one feels prepared for, even though deep down we all are. We ask ourselves questions, we feel eternally guilty, and children, in their naivety, are able to tell you with simplicity the phrase that makes you happy like nothing else in the world and the one that destroys you. Ginevra is like that too.”
Meloni, as is known, in recent months decided to separate from her partner, the journalist Andrea Giambruno, Ginevra’s father. “When Andrea and I separated – she recalls – it wasn’t easy for her either, obviously. She is very close to both of us. For a long time she pretended nothing was wrong with us, but I know she cried when we weren’t seeing her. It made my heart sink like a peanut”.
“Fortunately,” the president continues, “Andrea and I, who remains the best father I could have wished for my daughter, have maintained a good relationship. When we can, we spend time together with Ginevra. I think it is important to make children understand that a separation does not necessarily have to trigger a conflict between parents and that children should not be forced to choose between mom and dad. It is not always easy, I realize, but when it is possible, it is useful to do so.”
“The three of us will also take a few days of vacation together with a group of friends and their children,” Meloni says. “For Ginevra. But also because we are still friends and we love each other. We both see how happy she is when she doesn’t have to split between one and the other, and even if our separation is permanent, we will always spend happy time together, as many other families with separated parents do.”
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