The year began with a bang: racist immigration policies, economic upheaval, government attacks on the judiciary, and a crackdown on activists. But this isn’t Donald Trump’s America — it’s Giorgia Meloni’s Italy.

Not much more than two years since her far-right coalition came to power, Meloni’s government is Italy’s longest lasting in a decade. To the Left’s horror, she initially appeared to be the effective strongwoman the reactionary right had been waiting for. The economy seemed steady, backed up by the European Union’s (EU) post-pandemic spending, and she managed to sanitize her xenophobic border regime, selling it as a “commonsense” policy to an EU establishment desperate for stability.

Key to her strategy has been the Mattei Plan, a geopolitical maneuver to secure new energy sources from African states, enrich Italian capital, and shut down migration routes. Particularly in the context of years of energy price fluctuations owing to the war in Ukraine, the plan seemed to tick all the boxes. Whereas previous governments headed by right-wingers had sometimes tarnished Italy’s appearance on a global stage (through Matteo Salvini’s boorish browbeating for instance), Meloni has instead positioned herself as a more reasonable partner for the establishment, consolidating bonds with Europe’s conservatives while forging diplomatic ties with leaders of many African states.