The first decree adopted by Giorgia Meloni after coming to power in Italy had something surprising. Adopted on October 31, 2022, it introduced urgent measures aimed at banning certain types of parties. Called the “anti-rave decree”, the normative act sanctioned parties deemed “invasive” with more than fifty participants, providing up to six years in prison for the organizers.
On the same day, in Emilia-Romagna, a meeting was quietly winding down where participants – whose average age, 49, was already below the Italian average, the highest in Europe – had danced to electronic music. In the previous days, however, the neighbors had complained, attracting the attention of the media, writes Le Monde.
The tone of the Meloni era had been set and would be confirmed later. It was the first expression of a method of government based on legislation by decree, proceeding from various facts and invoking questionable exigencies. But this decree also inaugurated the repressive tightening that would accompany his mandate, justified each time by the designation of an “enemy from within”.
After young electronic music enthusiasts, the list was followed by climate activists, then the sons of Arab immigrants, fourth-wave feminists, advocates of the emancipation of marginalized groups and students in solidarity with Palestine. Some are ideological adversaries, others stigmatized targets, but most of them have one thing in common: they belong to a minority that is not expensive from an electoral point of view, considered harmless: the youth.
If people aged 65 and over represented a fifth of the population in 2005, in 2025 they already constituted a quarter and, according to forecasts, could reach a third in 2045. In contrast, young people have never been so few. Those under 25 represent only 12% of the country's population, the lowest proportion in Europe. And there are fewer and fewer – their share fell by five percentage points between 2004 and 2024.
First, because Italians have fewer children, but also because, once they reach adulthood, they tend to leave the country. Between 2011 and 2024, Italy lost 630,000 young people, leaving for more favorable horizons, fleeing the precariousness with no way out and the low wages, characteristic of a labor market particularly hostile to the younger generations. Increasingly, the youth unemployment rate was 18.1% in March, compared to 5.2% for the general population.
Politically ignored, young people nevertheless contributed to stopping the upward phase of Giorgia Meloni's legislature. The defeat suffered by it in March, in the constitutional referendum intended to transform the organization of the judiciary, was possible in particular thanks to the mobilization of this electorate, until then perceived as negligible. Thus, 61% of people between 18 and 34 voted against the reform, contributing to the final score of 54% in favor of the “no” camp.
Repressive policy
These results came after more than three years of government in which the executive did not promote any reforms aimed at improving the economic situation of this demographic group. On the contrary, young people have become the target of hostile offensives by the government. As early as 2022, the actions of environmental activists from the “Ultima Generazione” group – blocking intersections or throwing paint – were repressed by new laws that made them practically disappear from public space.
During the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, young Italians of Arab origin were called by the government camp and its allies with the derogatory term “maranza”, the Italian equivalent of the word “riot”. For his part, the singer Ghali, of Tunisian origin and very popular among young people, was censored by public television. The conductor of the opening ceremony, a supporter of Giorgia Meloni, forbade her to recite a few lines in Arabic from a pacifist poem.
At the same time, progressive students have been portrayed as lenient towards Hamas because of their opposition to Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. Images of violent police interventions at a demonstration in 2024 shocked the country, but Giorgia Meloni remained adamant. She went so far as to criticize the call for respect for democratic principles made by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, following the police violence.
While the Meloni era has entered a new political cycle, in view of the legislative elections scheduled for 2027, the majority has the opportunity to make up for lost time and address this electorate. On Wednesday, May 13, the president of the Council of Ministers declared that she wishes that, one day, for young people, “staying in Italy will be a competitive choice and not an act of courage”, while also considering their emigration as a “structural” phenomenon.
“This should not become an alibi to say that not much can be done”, demographer Alessandro Rosina, from the Catholic University “Sacré-Cœur” in Milan, answered in La Stampa daily. “To return to Italy after starting a career abroad is not an act of courage, it is suicidal,” he added, referring to labor market data.
This pessimistic conclusion, also shared by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in a study published at the end of April, would require public policies regarding professional training and the transition between studies and professional activity – topics that do not appear on the agenda of Giorgia Meloni's government.Material produced with the support of Rador Radio Romania)
