"We celebrate with Italy!" - This is how AfD politicians react to the election

Politicians from the German AfD, the right-wing national Rassemblement National from France and the Polish PiS congratulated Giorgia Meloni on winning the elections in Italy. According to initial projections, the Roman woman and her right-wing extremist Fratelli d'Italia were clearly the strongest party in the parliamentary elections and, with a legal alliance in the two chambers, also won the absolute majority of seats.

"We're celebrating with Italy!" Wrote AfD member of parliament Beatrix von Storch on Twitter late on Sunday evening. Her party colleague Malte Kaufmann tweeted: "A good day for Italy - a good day for Europe." Referring to the recent elections in Sweden, in which the right was also successful, von Storch wrote: "Sweden in the north, Italy in the south: Left governments are so yesterday.”

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter "Congratulations @Giogia Meloni". French MEP Jordan Bardella from Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN) wrote on Twitter that the Italians had given EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen "a lesson in humility". The German politician said last week that her agency had "tools" if Italy, under a right-wing government, failed to comply with EU rules. "No threat of any kind can stop democracy," wrote the RN party leader. "The peoples of Europe lift up their heads and take back control of their destiny."

Leading MEPs warned of a government led by Melonis. “Giorgia Meloni will be a prime minister whose political role models are Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump. The election victory of the alliance of right-centre parties in Italy is therefore worrying," said Katharina Barley (SPD), Vice-President of the EU Parliament, WELT.

Early on Monday morning, initial projections confirmed the clear victory of the right-wing camp around the far-right Fratelli d'Italia. According to broadcaster Rai, the Fratelli Giorgia Melonis received 24.6 percent of the votes for the Senate, significantly improving the 2018 result (4.3).

The coalition partners, on the other hand, slipped significantly in favor of voters: According to the projections, the right-wing populist Lega came to 8.5 percent (2018: 17.6), the conservative Forza Italia to 8.0 percent (2018: 14.4). The center-left alliance of the Partita Democratico (PD) and the 5 Star Movement would therefore come to 25.4 percent.

According to calculations by the Rai television station, the right-wing alliance will win between 227 and 257 of the 400 seats in the Italian parliament and 111 to 131 of the 200 seats in the Senate.