On 2 May the Current Government Passes Berlusconi IV. The All-Time Record Comes on 4 September.
On Saturday 2 May, Giorgia Meloni’s government quietly crosses a milestone that no previous centre-right administration in Italy has reached from this starting point: it becomes the second longest-serving government in the history of the Italian Republic.The arithmetic is precise. At 1,288 days from the swearing-in ceremony on 22 October 2022, Meloni’s government surpasses the 1,287 days of Berlusconi’s fourth and final government, which ran from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. Only one government in the entire republican era has lasted longer: Berlusconi II, which ran for 1,412 days between June 2001 and April 2005. That record is now in Meloni’s sights, with a target date of 4 September 2026.
Stability as a Political Programme
Longevity in Italian government is not a trivial achievement. Since 1946, Italy has had 68 governments across 19 legislatures, a figure that speaks for itself. The average Italian government lasts less than 18 months. Coalition collapses, confidence votes, internal rebellions and technocratic interventions have ended administrations that seemed solid within months of their formation.Meloni has consistently framed her government’s durability as a political statement in itself. With a clear majority in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, she has argued repeatedly over the past three and a half years that she has given Italy something it has rarely had: genuine political stability. That claim is now backed by the calendar.The word stabilità has been the leitmotif of two of her most ambitious reform projects: the premierato, a proposed constitutional reform to strengthen the executive by introducing a directly elected prime minister, which has stalled in parliament, and the so-called stabilicum, an electoral law reform also still in the early stages of its parliamentary journey. Both reforms remain incomplete. The longevity they were designed to produce is arriving anyway, through sheer political endurance.
The Moments That Threatened It
The record has not been uncontested. In late March, the outcome of the constitutional referendum on justice reform, described widely as a debacle for the government, produced several days of internal discussion at the highest levels of the executive about the possibility of calling early elections. The temptation passed. Meloni chose to regroup rather than gamble.What followed was a wave of departures that amounted to the government’s most significant reshuffle in months without ever being formally acknowledged as one. Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè resigned, as did Justice undersecetary Andrea Delmastro and Giusi Bartolozzi, head of cabinet to Justice Minister Carlo Nordio. These were not the first changes to the government’s composition. Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano had previously been replaced by Alessandro Giuli following the Boccia affair. Raffaele Fitto left for Brussels to take up his role as EU Commissioner and Vice President, with Tommaso Foti moving into European Affairs. Various undersecretaries have been rotated, with the latest round completed just last week.
The formal reshuffle of the cabinet, however, has been avoided. Meloni remains prime minister of essentially the same government she formed in October 2022, with the same coalition partners and the same structural majority. In Italian terms, that continuity is the record.
What the Number Means
The milestone of 2 May is partly symbolic and partly substantial. Symbolically, it places Meloni in a select category of Italian leaders who have managed to govern long enough to actually implement policy rather than merely announce it. Substantially, it means that the legislative agenda of this government, whatever its achievements and failures, has had a timeframe in which to develop that most Italian governments never see.
Whether the record will be broken on 4 September depends on three months of politics that, in Italy, is never a foregone conclusion. For now, the second step on the podium is confirmed. The top step is within reach.
Ph: Marco Iacobucci Epp / Shutterstock.com
