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JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported,

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Italians have chosen
their first far right wing
government since World War II.

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Giorgia Meloni is expected to
become the first female prime
minister to lead Europe's third

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largest economy. Her
party, Brothers of Italy,
draws its roots from
Italy's fascist history.

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Today, she sounded a
moderate tone, but, as
Nick Schifrin reports,

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her recent rhetoric
has many in Italy and
wider Europe concerned.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: In the
birthplace of the Renaissance,
today, Italians woke

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up to a new political era and
a new untested leader whose
message in victory was moderate.

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GIORGIA MELONI, Leader,
Brothers of Italy
(through translator):
If we will be called

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to lead this country, we
will do that for all. We
will do that with the aim

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to unify these people, to
underline what unifies it,
rather than what divides it.

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We on the right know exactly who
we are and what we stand for.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: But
Giorgia Meloni is
unabashedly nationalist
and proudly populist.

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GIORGIA MELONI: The
sovereignty of our nation is
under attack. The prosperity

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and well-being of our families
is under attack. The education
of our children is under attack.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: She will
lead Italy's farthest right
coalition in 80 years,

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with firebrand Matteo Salvini,
the former interior minister
and leader of the Euroskeptic

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nationalist party League, and
three-time former Prime Minister
85-year-old Silvio Berlusconi.

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Meloni's rise has come
quickly. As a girl, she was
raised by a single mother

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and has long said she found
a new family as a teenager in
the neo-fascist Italian social

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movement. It was created
by supporters of dictator
Benito Mussolini. Its, logo,

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the flame, is part of
Meloni's own logo today.

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And almost exactly 100
years after Mussolini's
march on Rome brought

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him to power, Italy's
future leader once praised
Mussolini on French TV.

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GIORGIA MELONI (through
translator): I think Mussolini
was a good politician.

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Everything he did, he
did it for Italy, and
we can't find this and

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the politicians we have
had for the past 50 years.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: But, 25 years
later, on the campaign trail,
Meloni criticized Mussolini.

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And she vows to stand
up to Russian President
Vladimir Putin, as she
told the Conservative

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Political Action Conference
the day after the February
invasion of Ukraine.

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GIORGIA MELONI: We are
on the side of freedom.
And, indeed, we are on the

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side of a proud nation that
is teaching the world what it
means to fight for freedom.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: But her coalition
isn't convinced. Salvini used to

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wear Putin T-shirts and
joked he would trade
two Italian presidents

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for half of Putin. And
Berlusconi has described
Putin as a younger brother.

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He recently walked back comments
that Putin's war was about
putting -- quote -- "good people

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in Kyiv," but he says he
still wants to restore
relations with Russia.

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SILVIO BERLUSCONI, Former
Italian Prime Minister
(through translator): In terms

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of history, religion,
culture, and lifestyle,

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Russia is absolutely a
European state. I hope that
this situation can change

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and that we can really create
a Europe that would include
all the truly European states.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: But each
of those coalition leaders
actually lost votes to
Meloni's Brothers of Italy.

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NATHALIE TOCCI, Former E.U.
Special Adviser: The pro-Kremlin
parties took a real beating,

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and Brothers of Italy, Giorgia
Meloni's party, and actually has

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been very firm in opposition
to the Kremlin and in
support of Ukraine.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Nathalie Tocci is
an Italian political scientist

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and a former senior adviser
to the European Union.

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NATHALIE TOCCI: She firmly
believes in the notion of
the West. As far as the

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sort of juxtaposition
between the West and Russia
in the context of the war,

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this is something that she
actually really believes
in. This is, in a sense,

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an identity point of the
party which is actually
quite firmly held.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: But
Meloni's domestic agenda
is also firmly held,

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especially on immigration.
She has called for a
naval blockade against

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migrants and predicted a --
quote -- "Great Replacement"
of native Italians.

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GIORGIA MELONI: I see
unbelievable things happening
on the border between United

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States and Mexico. And I think
of our own Sicily, thousands
of migrants allowed to

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enter without permission,
and, in many instances,
engaging in crime.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: And liberal
activists worry about
her eroding LGBTQ rights
and access to abortion.

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In the European Parliament,
Meloni chairs a right-wing
group of 44 parties. It includes

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Poland's ruling Law and Justice
Party, which the E.U. has
condemned for undermining the

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rule of law. It also
includes Sweden's Democrats,
an anti-immigrant party

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created out of a neo-Nazi
group that just became the
country's second largest party.

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But Meloni's Euroskepticism
will be constrained by
the crises sparked by

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Ukraine, and she will
work with the Biden
administration, says Tocci.

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NATHALIE TOCCI: We are in an
energy crisis. We are in an
economic crisis. We are in a

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war. And so those are
constraining factors
to that Euroskepticism.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Why would
she want to work with
the Biden administration,

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or why does she feel she has to?

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NATHALIE TOCCI: It goes
back to this question of
kind of belonging to the

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West. You know, this is
the family she belongs to.

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She -- these are the
international relationships
that she believes in.
Meloni is very -- not only

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is she very opposed to
Russia. She is also very
gung-ho about China. And
the West -- the sort of

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so-called leader of the
West, is still, obviously,

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the United States. And so this
is simply who she's going to
be looking at moving forward.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: The
election featured
historically low turnout,

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and it will take weeks
before the coalition is set.

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But Italians have chosen change,

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and will be led by the
far right, and, for the
first time, a woman.

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For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Nick Schifrin.