The sound makes the music: The new Italian government: soft on the outside, rough on the inside

The political tone in Italy is becoming sharper, towards migrants, journalists and even schoolchildren.

The sound makes the music: The new Italian government: soft on the outside, rough on the inside

The political tone in Italy is becoming sharper, towards migrants, journalists and even schoolchildren. But most Italians don't care. They have other concerns and are happy with the new right-wing government at the moment.

At the European level, Italy's new government is trying as best it can to maintain a dovish tone. The country needs the EU, especially EU funds. Nevertheless, there are occasional confrontations with European partners, as the case of the sea rescue ships a few weeks ago showed. On the whole, however, Rome is willing to cooperate.

The situation is quite different when it comes to domestic political rhetoric. For example, it sounds like this: "Humiliation is an important growth factor and contributes to personality formation." This claim is not made by anyone but by Giuseppe Valditara, the new head of the "Ministry of Education and Merit"; the latter designation was added to the portfolio of Valditara's party, the national-populist Lega.

So the new education minister thinks it's good when children and young people are humiliated. His statement came at a conference earlier this week in Milan, which discussed, among other things, a punch that a student had given a teacher. The minister called for such acts to be punished with community service, which in principle is not unreasonable. The reasoning, however, sounded less plausible: "Because it is only through the community work, the humiliation in front of his classmates, that the student accepts responsibility for his actions." Valditara also suggested that citizens' income be abolished for those who have not completed their compulsory schooling.

The Minister of Education is not the only politician in the current right-wing government who wants to use harsh methods to straighten the country. Lucio Malan, leader of the post-fascist Fratelli d'Italia in the Senate, said on the radio a few days ago: "The Bible says that homosexuality is an abomination. It's in both the Old and New Testaments."

Both Malan and Valditara later tried to backtrack, complaining that they had been misunderstood. The education minister claimed he had promised himself he meant "humility" and not "humiliation," two terms - "umiliazione" and "umiltà" - which resemble each other in Italian in a way similar to that in German.

It may be that he really meant "humility". However, that is not really credible if you listen carefully to the rhetoric of this government. It seems as if the ministers and the deputies, especially those of the Fratelli d'Italia and the Lega, are feeling their way forward. At the moment they are content with provocative statements, waiting for the reaction of the public and, if necessary, reassuring them. It is the classic way to push through rhetorical and political boundary shifts.

The reaction of the Italian public to this is currently very reserved or, to put it better, characterized by disinterest. It seems as if the majority is thinking: "These are just announcements anyway, let's wait and see how it really turns out."

In addition, you have other concerns at the moment. For example, how to pay the gas and electricity bills, which have increased by 600 and 880 euros on average for normal households. Many Italians try to save wherever they can. A study just published found that 50 percent of Italians don't turn on their ovens and 30 percent have reduced their use of gas stoves.

After all, the government is trying to do something for the needs of the citizens, says some. The 2023 budget law provides for additional spending of 32 billion euros, two thirds of which should relieve citizens, at least a little, of energy costs and inflation. The crackdown on the migrants is also applauded. The fact that the people on the sea rescue ships were "sorted out" a few weeks ago and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi described those who were not allowed to land immediately as "residual cargo" only caused indignation among the aid organizations and the opposition. Most of the population did not register it.

This also explains why the government has a popularity rating of 42 percent in the polls after 30 days in office. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the most popular politician in the country with 48 percent, her party Fratelli d'Italia achieved 29 percent - three percentage points more than in the elections - and remains the strongest party. It is interesting that instead the head of the Lega and current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, continues to descend. In the ranking of the most popular politicians, he has to share fifth place with Silvio Berlusconi with 29 percent. The Italians seem to have had enough of the blustering "Capitano".

And it's not just the supporters of the governing parties who are giving Meloni a positive testimonial. At a recent dinner, a journalist who is clearly left-wing said: "I prefer Meloni a thousand times over [her predecessor] Mario Draghi. She has what it takes to govern." He sees it as a beginner's mistake that she gives as little space as possible to questions from journalists at the press conferences, and one that will go away over time.

Which is urgently needed. At press conferences, we have always tried to keep the time for questions as short as possible. There was a confrontation with the media on Tuesday. The subject of the press conference was the budget law. Meloni wanted to say goodbye after the third question, she had another meeting, she said with a tone asking for understanding. But the journalists didn't get it, to which Meloni replied irritably: "You weren't so demanding with the other heads of government," and then added the comment: "If you had been so brave in other situations." When asked what she meant by that, she replied vaguely, "I know what I'm referring to."

It's the tone that makes the music, and it's starting to sound increasingly screechy to those listening at the moment.