Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk took to the stage between Albania’s premier Edi Rama and British prime minister Rishi Sunak

Prime minister Giorgia Meloni is facing a difficult 2024 budget, with investors dismayed by government moves affecting sectors from banks to airlines

Italian government

By mid-morning the queue to enter the basilica snaked around St Peter’s Square

The ECB has raised rates by a combined 2% or 200 basis points since July, its fastest ever pace of tightening

Using their political group status, far-right parties have gained not just visiblity and power, they’ve also reaped significant financial benefits in order to grow at home while simultaneously attacking the EU project, writes Christin Tonne

The European Union envisioned by Giorgia Meloni along with her fellow travellers Marine Le Pen in France and Santiago Abascaul in Spain is not the one Ireland wants to be part of, writes Vittorio Bufacci

The far-right leader is a relatively inexperienced politician and may have little impact on European politics, writes Cas Mudde

Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia look set to form a new far-right governing coalition in Italy

With 41 to 45% of the vote, several exit polls show her right-wing alliance comfortably ahead of Enrico Letta's Left Alliance party

Some women worry that Giorgia Meloni, who exalts motherhood, might seek to erode women's rights, including abortion access. For her supporters, what matters is her conservative "God, homeland, and family" platform, not her gender.

As in the US, formerly mainstream conservative politicians are becoming dangerously comfortable with breaches of democratic norms

Having lost one of its most credible post-war leader last week, Italy must now contend with the political heirs of Mussolini