Over Christmas, a group of conservative intellectuals have opened a controversy by saying Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her government have failed to translate political power into genuine cultural and ideological change.
Instead, they say, she has opted for institutional moderation and a growing closeness to Europe’s political and bureaucratic elites.
Critics say Meloni’s government is staffed by an ambitious yet largely mediocre political class. They are unable or unwilling to challenge the Left’s long-standing cultural dominance and are increasingly comfortable within the European establishment.
The discussion raises a central question: Is Meloni’s government truly confronting left-wing cultural hegemony, or has it settled for European respectability at the cost of ideological substance?
The controversy began on December 23 2025, when veteran conservative intellectual Marcello Veneziani, published a sharply critical editorial in the daily La Verità.
Veneziani, often regarded as an eminence grise of Italy’s intellectual Right, openly questioned Meloni’s ability to deliver meaningful change, portraying her government as politically stagnant and culturally timid instead.
He argued Meloni’s government had failed to produce substantive change: “Nothing has changed in our lives as Italians… everything has remained as before, in both good and bad, in general and particular mediocrity.”
He accused Meloni’s administration of prioritising “vague announcements, a lot of fluff, small symbolic gestures” while avoiding structural reforms and deeper cultural confrontation.
While acknowledging Meloni’s personal political skills — “There is her, only her, the rest is background and extras” — Veneziani suggested her leadership was constrained by the limits of members of the political class who surround her.
For Veneziani, the government governs competently but prudently, leaving the cultural influence of the Left and its ideological frameworks largely untouched.
Veneziani’s editorial prompted a swift and unusually harsh response from within the government.
On December 24 2025, Alessandro Giuli, Italy’s Minister of Culture, accused Veneziani of attacking his own political side out of personal resentment.
He claimed that critics like Veneziani had “decided to enlist in the front of anti-loyalty” and that their anger stemmed from “black bile” and “blind regret.”
Giuli’s reaction revealed not only irritation at internal dissent but also a broader effort by the government to close ranks around a strategy that prioritises institutional stability, European credibility, and incremental cultural action over open ideological confrontation.
Criticism from within the Right, however, predates the Veneziani–Giuli clash.
As early as September 2025, Mario Giordano — one of Italy’s most recognisable right-wing television hosts — publicly criticized Meloni’s trajectory. Giordano framed his attack explicitly around Meloni’s relationship with the European establishment.
Referring above all to what he saw as her accommodation with EU institutions, financial centres, and transnational elites, he remarked: “Giorgia has become what she promised to fight: The Establishment… her government provides stability without meaningful change.”
The renewed controversy following Giuli’s intervention widened the debate beyond conservative circles.
Among others who weighed in was Franco Cardini, one of Italy’s most respected historians, widely regarded as intellectually independent and often identified as a man of the Right due to his early involvement with the Italian Social Movement (MSI) — the party that preceded Meloni’s own.
In a December 24 interview with La Repubblica, Cardini delivered a blunt assessment of the current conservative cultural landscape: “The culture of this Right has a flatline electroencephalogram.”
He criticised what he described as superficial initiatives and symbolic events, arguing that they substitute genuine intellectual production with gestures designed more to reassure institutions — including European ones — than to reshape Italy’s cultural horizon.
As the debate continued past Christmas, it spread across Italy’s media, from Conservative to mainstream and Left-leaning outlets.
Its intensity reflects deeper anxieties within the Italian Right about trade-offs between leadership, ideological coherence, and the cost of international normalisation.
While Meloni’s supporters highlight her success in stabilising Italy’s position in Europe and maintaining EU credibility, critics argue this has come at the expense of cultural ambition and political identity.
As Italy approaches 2026, the tension between European conformity and Conservative transformation remains central to the simmering debate over assessing Meloni’s leadership.
