Monday 26 September 2022 03:44 PM Georgia Meloni's policies, from boosting the population to blocking migrant ... trends now

She has won over the Italian public with her dogged campaign focusing on 'God, country and family'.

And now Giorgia Meloni has the chance to forge the country in her own image after becoming its largest party, making her the presumptive prime minister of a right-wing coalition.

While the unmarried mother-of-one has been slammed as an 'heir to Mussolini' and a neo-fascist, the firebrand has tried to shrug off the labels and appeal to all Italians.

Throughout the election, she has focused on the importance of religion and the family unit, railing against the EU and 'woke ideology'.

She has courted controversy for slamming the 'LGBT lobby', suggesting she is against abortions, and proposing to blockade Libya to stop migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

The influence of her minor coalition partners, Matteo Salvini of the anti-immigrant Lega party and the more moderate Silvio Berlusconi of Forza Italia, could also have a bearing on her leadership.

Here, MailOnline takes a look at what the new leader has vowed to do for Italy.

While Meloni has backed for the West's policies on Ukraine, coalition partners Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi have questioned the use of sanctions against Moscow and expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin in the past. 

Meloni herself also congratulated Putin for his election win in 2018 but has now taken a stronger stance against the tyrant who has rocked Europe with his savage invasion of Ukraine.

The coalition programme has committed to respect NATO pledges and backs all attempts to find a solution to the war.

Meloni also backs supplying arms so Ukraine can defend itself. 

The politician used to advocate leaving the EU's single currency but she has now moderated her stance.

She has committed to the 'full adherence to the European integration process' but wants a 'more political and less bureaucratic' bloc.

She has also called for a review of EU rules on public spending and wants to promote Judeo-Christian values across the union.

Her technocratic predecessor Mario Draghi was a key Eurocentric figure, and Meloni's victory risks upsetting the EU at a time when the bloc is already fragile, following Brexit and the departure of Angela Merkel.

Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, pushed Rome to the centre of EU policy-making during his 18-month stint in office, forging close ties with Paris and Berlin.

In Europe, the first to hail Meloni's victory were hard-right opposition parties in Spain and France, and Poland and Hungary's national conservative governments which both have strained relations with Brussels.

Meloni says Rome must stand up more for its national interests and has backed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in his battles with Brussels. 

For years, the right wing has crusaded against unbridled immigration, after hundreds of thousands of migrants reached Italy's shores aboard smugglers' boats or vessels that rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Both Meloni and Salvini have thundered against what they see as an invasion of foreigners not sharing what they call Italy's 'Christian' character.

Last month, Meloni was slammed for sharing a video of a Ukrainian woman being raped by an asylum seeker in an Italian city, in a bid to whip up anti-migrant hysteria.

A 55-year-old woman was assaulted on a pavement in the city of Piacenza early Sunday by an asylum seeker from Guinea, local officials said.

Meloni, tweeted the video saying: 'A hug to this woman. I will do everything I can to restore security to our cities.' 

She has vowed to bring an end to the influx of migrants, a position she shares with Salvini, who is currently on trial for blocking charity rescue ships when he was interior minister in 2019. 

She is seeking to target in particular traffickers' boats coming from Libya to Italy and the granting of automatic citizenship to babies born to foreign parents.

She wants the Italian navy to blockade the north African coast so that all migrants can be screened before leaving to ascertain whether they are genuine refugees.

Those who can prove their refugee status should be allowed through, Meloni said, while those who cannot should be sent home.

Speaking to a TV channel owned by the Berlusconi family, she said: 'The problem of migrant arrivals on our shores must be tackled at its source, with a "naval blockade".'

Likening the plan to EU proposals to get tough on border security, she added: '[This] is no different than a European mission to negotiate together with Libya, the possibility to block the inflatable boats during their departure.'

But Meloni's plans came under attack by political opponents, who said any attempt to blockade the shores of a foreign nation would be a de-facto declaration of war.

'Meloni, do you know that under international law it is considered an act of war,' tweeted former house speaker Laura Boldrini.

'Do you know that more ships would be required than the navy has? Do you know the number of dead would outnumber those rejected?'

Meloni said: 'Uncontrolled immigration is what ordinary people worry about. It impacts on those in the lower level of society. 

'Those who defend open borders, they live on the higher level. A country must be able to decide who comes in.'

She doesn't care if Italy's Left-wing press vilifies her for her views, as highlighted by a speech she made in Spain to their Right-wing Vox party a few weeks ago.

She reportedly told the rally, with some vigour: 'Yes to natural families, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology,' before adding, her voice rising to a crescendo: 'No to the violence of Islam, yes to safer borders, no to mass immigration, yes to working for our people.'

Meloni has also pledged to establish EU-run centres outside the bloc to manage asylum applications to the continent.

She also wants more integrated migration for those who do come to Italy

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