Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni pledged that the incoming government will give all the support necessary to make the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics a success during a one-hour meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach in Rome on Thursday.
“These Games are very important for us,” Meloni told Bach according to an IOC statement.
The Rome native looks set to be Italy’s next premier after FdI spearheaded the right coalition to victory in Sunday’s general election.
“Italy is more than capable of organizing magnificent Games and we want to amaze the world again.
“You can count on us”.
Bach was accompanied by Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) President Giovanni Malago, who is also an IOC member and the head of the Milano Cortina 2026 organizing committee.
Bach thanked Meloni for the “strong support for sport and the Olympic Movement shown during her political career”.
“We are committed to a very close collaboration built on trust to make the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games a success for Italy and the whole Olympic Movement,” he said.
The meeting proved to be a moment of calm in a chaotic day for the soon-to-be premier, who stressed that fake reports were doing the rounds about who will be in the incoming centre-right government, and pledged that the ministers will be quality appointments.
“I continue to read unreal reconstructions about the eventual ministers of a centre-right government,” Meloni said via Twitter.
“After the failure of the (outgoing Health Minister Roberto) Speranza and co. I assure you that we are working on a high-quality team that will not disappoint you.
“Don’t believe the lies that are going around.”
The tweet was posted amid reports of tension between Meloni and her alliance partner, Lega leader Matteo Salvini, the two having had their first public meeting since the election on Wednesday.
Salvini is under pressure after Lega performed far worse than its right-wing partner in the election.
Lega received around 9 per cent of Sunday’s vote compared to 26 per cent for FdI, and 8 per cent for the other main party in the bloc, three-time former premier and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI).
At the last Italian elections in 2018 FdI got around 4 per cent, while Lega got 17 per cent, and surged to 34 per cent in the 2019 European elections amid Salvini’s popular anti-migrant policies as interior minister at the time.
Salvini is reportedly keen to get back to denying charity migrant rescue ships ports of call as Meloni’s interior minister, but his position has been weakened by Lega's relatively poor performance in the elections.
There have been reports that some top FdI members do not want Salvini to hold a high-ranking position, and even talks of Lega opting to not be part of the government, but just providing ‘external support’, allowing the executive to pass legislation.
On Facebook, meanwhile, Meloni reiterated that the election win was “not a final destination", but a starting point.
“We are ready to give back a future, vision and greatness to Italy,” she said.
