Ahead of June’s elections to the European Union’s parliament, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is troubling the sleep of progressive public opinion, not only at home but throughout the Old Continent. So strong is her domestic position that the postfascist leader Meloni is now a leading light for European conservative forces in general.

Yet Meloni’s political force also owes to the weakness of the opposition. The simple truth is that the Italian right would not enjoy such a commanding position if it were not for the many self-defeating moves by the main force on the center left, the Democratic Party. This is true even under new segretaria (party leader) Elly Schlein, who raised many hopes when she was elected to this post in March 2023.

But this also tells us something wider about the Democrats and their current position. The Italian center left’s many damaging choices were not individual follies or even outbreaks of collective madness. Rather, they are rooted in this party’s recent history and political culture — and its particular social base.