When it became clear in September 2022 that Giorgia’s Meloni right-wing coalition was on course to win Italy’s general election, Ursula von der Leyen issued a warning. ‘If things go in a difficult direction,’ declared the president of the European Commission, ‘…we have tools’.

Matteo Salvini, whose Liga party was a member of the coalition, denounced von der Leyen’s threat as ‘shameful arrogance’.