Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni didn’t hold back in parliament ahead of this week’s European Council meeting, delivering a speech so fiery it sent opposition MPs into a frenzy—forcing House Speaker Lorenzo Fontana to suspend the session twice. The uproar? She dared to bring up the Ventotene Manifesto, a document revered by pro-EU advocates but carrying a far more radical history than they like to admit.
Drafted in 1941 by Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi—two political prisoners under Mussolini—the manifesto called for a federal Europe to prevent future wars. But Meloni pointed out the parts often ignored: the push to abolish private property, restrict democratic processes, and embrace socialism as the foundation for Europe’s future.
Her comments weren’t unprompted. Several speakers at a pro-EU rally in Rome had recently cited the manifesto, prompting Meloni to ask, “Is this really the Europe you stand for? Because it’s certainly not mine.” She suggested those invoking the document either hadn’t read it—or worse, had, and agreed with its contents.
That was enough to send leftist MPs into meltdown mode. Shouting “Shame!”, one even demanded Meloni “kneel before the founding fathers” instead of questioning their vision. Il Manifesto, a communist publication, accused her of distorting history, while a former health minister went as far as calling her speech “an apology for fascism.”
But Meloni’s challenge struck a deeper nerve. The Italian and European Left, still clinging to their ideological taboos, couldn’t stomach someone calling out the undemocratic and socialist roots of the EU project. Instead of countering her argument, they fell back on the tired old charge of fascism—a desperate move from a movement struggling to confront its own contradictions.
