Meloni government set to become Italy's longest-lasting postwar administration

Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government is set to become the longest-lasting in Italy's postwar history this week, according to The Local Italy. The coalition, which took office in October 2022, will surpass the previous record held by a centre-left administration that governed from 2013 to 2016.

The milestone comes as Italy prepares for elections expected next year, with the government facing considerable challenges despite its durability. The Local Italy reports that the coalition's longevity stands in contrast to the rapid turnover that has characterised Italian politics since the Second World War, where governments have lasted on average little more than a year.

The record reflects a period of relative stability in Rome, but analysts cited by The Local Italy note that the government's survival has not translated into sweeping legislative victories. Meloni's coalition has governed through a period of economic strain, with Italian businesses facing a 50 percent spike in summer electricity bills and the country on track to lose over 20 percent of its population by 2080, as reported by The Local Italy in separate dispatches this week.

For the Marche region, the durability of the national government carries particular weight. This central-Italy region of 1.5 million people depends heavily on small manufacturing districts — shoes and leather in Fermo and Macerata, furniture in Pesaro-Urbino — and on European structural funds that flow through Rome. A stable executive has meant predictable disbursements for post-earthquake reconstruction in the inland Apennine communities still recovering from the 2016 seismic shocks that damaged towns across the Marche, Umbria and Abruzzo.

The Local Italy reports that the government's record nevertheless belies considerable challenges ahead of elections next year. Among them is demographic decline, a trend that strikes the Marche with particular force: the region's dispersed town-and-country settlements, already ageing, face continued emigration of young workers who leave for northern Italy or abroad, a pattern documented in foreign coverage of Italy's population loss.

The government's longevity has also drawn attention abroad for what it signals about Italian political culture. Foreign commentators have noted that Meloni's coalition has benefited from a fragmented opposition and from the absence of the internal fractures that felled previous governments. Whether that durability survives the electoral test next year remains, in the assessment of the foreign press, an open question.