Meloni Is Graceful in Referendum Defeat, While Leftists Reach New Lows in Victory

The Italian prime minister is taking the rejection of her justice reforms well, saying “we will move forward” from Monday’s referendum on the separation of the role of judges and prosecutors—the unity of which has traditionally benefited the left—“as we have always done, with responsibility, determination, and respect for the Italian people and for Italy.”

Elements of the Italian left, on the other hand, are not content with simply celebrating the ‘no’ vote, and—magistrates included—have instead taken to borrowing football chants to bash Giorgia Meloni, alongside predictable renditions of Bella Ciao.

Il Giornale said such ‘celebrations’ by representatives of the ANM magistrates union in particular associated the group “more with a political party than with a current within the judiciary.”

It also pointed on Monday evening to lowly comments, many of them, “violent,” posted under the PM’s social media content accepting the result. One reportedly warned:

Soon, you won’t even be able to leave your house lest you be pelted with spittle.

Another said that Meloni must now resign because she has “finally had it in the a**.”

A number of Brussels-friendly European establishment publications have also run with this line—albeit put more politely—that Meloni’s time could be coming to an end, despite the prime minister vowing to stay on. Politico apparently positively put it that her “crushing defeat” has “shattered her aura of political invincibility.” And in the UK, the leftist Guardian newspaper said that the outcome “is expected to tarnish her reputation.”

But Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, echoing Meloni’s graceful line, insisted that “the government must move forward with compactness and determination,” adding:

When citizens express themselves, they are always right. We remain convinced, like millions of Italians who deserve respect and gratitude, that it is necessary to improve the justice system.