Since the center-right coalition brought Giorgia Meloni to power in September 2022, Italy has enjoyed a period of political stability that is quite exceptional in its history. Yet the prime minister is now facing a period of intense turmoil. Following the failure of her judicial reform, she has just suffered another setback: part of her electoral reform has failed, following the defection of lawmakers from her own party. On the international front, meanwhile, her stormy relationship with US President Donald Trump has placed her in an uncomfortable position.
Meloni's Own Camp Turns Against Her
On 14 July, a draft electoral reform bill was submitted to the Italian Parliament. Its goal was to introduce a proportional representation system with a majority bonus for parliamentary elections. The proposal itself was fairly standard, but it included one new feature: an amendment establishing a system of preferences (preferenze), allowing voters to indicate their preferred candidate on the electoral lists. Traditionally, that order had been fixed and predetermined by the parties. This was where the crisis came to a head. About 30 members of parliament from the governing majority voted against the amendment alongside the opposition, and it was rejected.
The issue put to a vote may seem trivial, but it has stoked tensions among the coalition's three parties in recent weeks. By eliminating the gender parity requirement, the preferenze system was accused of disadvantaging women, who would be more readily sidelined by voters when the time came to choose. Until the eve of the vote, the government believed it could prevail, and the defection of the 30 lawmakers, who voted by secret ballot, came as an unexpected blow. The prime minister denounced a victory for the political “swamp” and “a missed opportunity for Italians”, taking aim at the traitors within her own camp. “Even within the majority, votes were missing, and we will need to reflect on that”, she explained.
The Italian press has seized on the moment to highlight the prime minister's weaknesses, already exposed by the failed judicial reform referendum in March. On the left, some see this as a sign of the coalition's inevitable erosion. Within the Democratic Party there is already talk of early elections, with Meloni accused of changing the electoral law simply to hold on to power.
Ahead of the vote, Meloni raised the specter of her own resignation to urge her camp to act responsibly. It proved to be a bluff: the threat did not deter the mavericks. Her Minister for Relations with Parliament, Luca Ciriani, confirmed that she had no intention of stepping down. “We can be proud of the political stability we have brought to the country”, he noted. Meloni remains, nonetheless, in a weakened position as discussions on electoral reform continue in Parliament.
A Faltering Bet on Trump
Electoral reform is not the only front on which Meloni finds herself destabilized. On the international stage, her relationship with US President Donald Trump is running into difficulties.
After Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Giorgia Meloni had counted on her ideological affinity with the US president to make Italy Washington’s primary point of contact in Europe. She attended his inauguration and, eager to avoid any public criticism, hoped to play the role of mediator between the United States and the European Union, despite disagreements over tariffs, Ukraine and NATO.
That strategy began to unravel in the spring of 2026, when Rome refused to let the United States use Italian military bases for its operations against Iran. Meloni distanced herself further after Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV, a remark that was very poorly received in Italy, where the Catholic Church continues to hold a privileged place in public opinion.
The rift became public at the G7 summit in June 2026. Donald Trump claimed that Giorgia Meloni had “begged” him to pose for a photo with her, then mocked her popularity and directed a series of jabs at her. The Italian prime minister denounced the remarks as “completely fabricated” and accused the US president of treating his allies more harshly than his adversaries. The incident sparked widespread support for Meloni in Italy, even among the opposition, and marked the failure of her strategy to build a personal rapport with Trump.
These tense exchanges cut both ways. Italians are readily willing to rally behind their prime minister against an increasingly unpopular US president. Yet the repeated episodes of tension also suggest that their head of government is not as respected on the international stage as she claims to be.
Tensions continued in the run-up to the NATO summit, where the two leaders displayed an unusual coldness amid persistent disagreements over Iran, military spending and transatlantic relations.
The next Italian elections are scheduled for 2027. Meloni still has several long months to weather, and in a country no longer accustomed to long-lasting governments, outbursts from coalition members against their leader are likely to grow more frequent.