As tensions rise in Italy with a recent security decree and protests against the Winter Olympic Games, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni continues to reveal the potential threat she poses to Italy’s democracy. Meloni’s response to Olympic protests and recent electoral and judicial reforms demonstrates how she delegitimizes dissent and is gradually decaying institutions from within to erode democracy. These actions have led to criticism and accusations of Italy trending towards authoritarianism. Meloni, head of the Fratelli d’Italia, is commonly referred to as a far-right populist and, since becoming prime minister in 2022, has increasingly concentrated executive power at the expense of parliament and the judiciary. Her policy agenda has taken a tough-on-crime, anti-immigration, and socially right-wing stance. Meloni is eroding Italy’s democracy in pursuing this agenda by implementing judicial, electoral, and security reforms and hampering freedom of expression. 

“Enemies of Italy”: Meloni’s take on Olympic Protests

In response to the Winter Olympic Games, protests have sprung up around Italy. The major complaints revolve around the environmental and economic impacts of the games, as well as the appearance of United States ICE agents. Though the majority were peaceful, some protesters did throw firecrackers, resulting in a police response of tear gas and water cannons. Additionally, there was damage to various train stations around Italy that is allegedly connected to the protests. Prime Minister Meloni took to Instagram to call perpetrators “enemies of Italy and Italians,” and “gangs of criminals.” A day before these demonstrations, Meloni’s cabinet approved a security decree cracking down on protests and increasing protections for police officers. While she frames the issue as one of law and order, her opponents view her security reforms as a step backward for liberal democracy.

Protests and the legitimacy of dissent

Following Meloni’s reforms and comments about the protests, many critics say she has committed a serious violation of freedom of expression and is repressing dissent. These criticisms stem both from her comments on social media, from the most recent security decree, as well as previous bills containing measures such as protections for police officers, jailing for blocking roads for a protest, and a policy allowing the police to preventively detain potential “agitators” for up to 12 hours. These measures have spurred further criticism of Meloni deteriorating important freedoms by criminalizing certain demonstrative acts and giving police broad protections in their actions against protestors. Meloni’s use of language such as “enemies of Italy,” also contributes to perceptions of populism. The rhetoric, which frames a true people against an other which opposes and threatens the true people’s way of life, is common in populism. By treating protestors as illegitimate and enemies of true Italians, Meloni perpetuates a sense of repression around freedom of expression and demonstration. 

Meloni’s explanation for these bills frames them as restoring order and protecting citizens. Others, however, interpret them as repressive of dissent and expression. Meloni’s actions constitute what Huq and Ginsburg describe as the tactic of constitutional retrogression of shrinking the public sphere by distorting information. The authors present an example of a government that uses detention powers under the guise of public security, which in turn gives the public incomplete information for future voting and advances exclusion “to eliminate dissenting minorities from the electorate.” By shrinking the public sphere, punishing dissent, and framing protestors as enemies of Italy, Meloni represses rights and freedoms that are critical for a functional, liberal democracy. 

Expanding power and degrading judicial independence

Alongside security decrees, Meloni has utilized judicial and electoral “premierato” reforms to concentrate her power and weaken the judiciary and parliament. These reforms mark gradual changes in institutions that allow Meloni to aggrandize and reduce checks on executive power, weakening democracy. The 2025 judicial reforms are criticized as politicization and an attempt to dismantle the judiciary, which has, until now, provided a check on some of Meloni’s actions. Additionally, these changes give the justice ministry inflated power against prosecutors, increasing Meloni’s control over the judiciary, limiting its independence. The premierato plan allows the prime minister to be directly elected and gives a five-year majority to the winning coalition. This plan endorses what the Fratelli d’Italia have promoted as majoritarian radicalism in which checks on executive power are limited in deference to executive governing by popular mandate, as demonstrated by election. These changes alter the balance between the branches and increase executive power. Meloni’s reforms are an example of executive aggrandizement as Bermeo explains it. This is a process that involves an elected executive “undertaking a series of institutional changes that hamper the power of opposition forces to challenge executive preferences.” By extending the winning coalition’s majority rule and politicizing the judiciary, Meloni makes it more difficult for the opposition to gain power or pose a legitimate challenge. These reforms are ways Meloni is taking gradual steps to strengthen her authority and undermine the functioning of democracy in Italy. 

What next?

Meloni’s executive aggrandizement and repression of freedom of expression are incremental changes to democratic institutions that, in sum, pose a major threat to democracy in Italy. Her social media reactions have the connotation that dissent will not be tolerated and she is willing to bolster police power and legal ramifications, a blatant step away from liberal democracy. Meloni’s reforms around electoral institutions and the judiciary have implications for the balance of power in Italy and the potential for other actors to check any future aggrandizement or pose legitimate competition. These actions only reinforce her ability to take further steps away from democracy. Without freedom of expression, civil society will deteriorate, and opposition parties will be weakened in future elections. Without the judiciary restraining her and a parliamentary majority, Meloni and the Fratelli d’Italia can continue to concentrate power and implement their far-right agenda. Overall, if Meloni continues without restraint, Italy may join the global trend away from democracy.