by InTrieste
Giorgia Meloni on Friday became the longest continually serving prime minister in the history of the Italian Republic, reaching 1,413 consecutive days in office and surpassing Silvio Berlusconi’s second government, which held the previous record from 2001 to 2005.
Meloni, Italy’s first female prime minister, took office on Oct. 22, 2022, leading a right-wing coalition of Brothers of Italy, the League and Forza Italia. Her party is marking the milestone with a rally in Bari celebrating what it calls the country’s “most stable government.”
In a nation that has had 68 governments since becoming a republic in 1946, political stability has become Meloni’s defining message. Her administration has pointed to lower borrowing costs, a reduced budget deficit, record employment and a sharp decline in Mediterranean migrant arrivals as evidence of its record.
The government’s tenure has also been marked by controversy, including the abolition of the reddito di cittadinanza welfare program, clashes with the judiciary, ministerial resignations and tensions over the war in Gaza.
With national elections expected in 2027, Meloni enters the final year of her mandate as Italy’s longest-serving republican premier while facing renewed competition on the political right from former army general Roberto Vannacci’s rising far-right movement.
