Bar Crobar

In Italy, the far right wins a historic victory

Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia won nearly a quarter of the vote in Sunday's general election. The coalition formed by the post-fascist party with Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia is expected to win an absolute majority in parliament.

The coalition formed by Fratelli d'Italia, Matteo Salvini's other far-right formation, the League, and Silvio Berlusconi's conservative party, Forza Italia, would win up to 47 % of the vote. With the complex interplay of the electoral system, it should secure an absolute majority of seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. If these results were confirmed, FdI and the League would together win "the highest percentage of votes ever recorded by far-right parties in the history of Western Europe from 1945 to the present day".According to the Italian Centre for Electoral Studies (CISE).

This earthquake comes two weeks after the victory in Sweden of a conservative bloc including the Sweden Democrats (SD), a party with its roots in the neo-Nazi movement, which made a strong breakthrough, becoming the leading right-wing party in the Nordic country. SD and FdI are part of the same group in the European Parliament. In what was (badly) perceived in Rome as a warning without cost, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen recalled that the European Union (EU) has "instruments to sanction Member States that undermine the rule of law and its common values.

Pitfalls

Giorgia Meloni has warned Brussels that she will demand a review of the terms of Italy's relationship with the EU: "The party's over, Italy will start defending its national interests".she warned. In particular, she is calling for a reform of the Stability Pact and the renegotiation, to take account of inflation, of the colossal aid package of 190 billion euros granted by her European partners to the eurozone's third-largest economy to help it recover from the pandemic.

Europeans are also alarmed by the positions on social issues of "la Meloni", as she is known in Italy, whose motto is "God, family, country", and who is close to the ultraconservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Fratelli d'Italia owes its success as much to the unfulfilled promises of its opponents and the wind of "disengagement" blowing across the Peninsula as to the charisma of its leader. This 45-year-old woman from Rome, who as a young activist said she admired Mussolini, has succeeded in de-demonising her image and rallying around her name the fears and anger of millions of Italians faced with soaring prices, unemployment, the threat of recession and poor public services.

Whichever Italian government emerges from the elections, which will not take office until the end of October at the earliest, its path already appears to be strewn with pitfalls and with little room for manoeuvre. In particular, it will have to manage the crisis caused by galloping inflation, while Italy is already crumbling under a debt representing 150 % of GDP, the highest ratio in the eurozone after Greece. On the issue of Ukraine, Europe and Italy's allies, as a member of NATO, will also be scrutinising the distribution of portfolios between the three parties. While Giorgia Meloni is an Atlanticist and supports sanctions against Moscow, Matteo Salvini is opposed to them.

Tokyo Olympics: surprise winner of the 100 metres, Jacobs thinks he "needs four or five years to achieve".

A new European record holder in the 100 metres, Italian sprinter Lamont Marcell Jacobs did not expect to win the final of the showpiece event at the Tokyo Olympics.

"I really didn't know anything about him". Silver medallist in the 100m, Fred Kerley himself admits that Lamont Marcell Jaccobs' triumph in the world's most prestigious event came as a huge surprise. The first time I ran at the same time as him was at the Monaco meeting in July," said the American after the race. He did a fantastic job. I ran really well and I got a medal, so I can't complain. It was a great race and I set a personal best. I'm blessed to be here, at the peak of my career.

If there's one runner who can say as much, it's his Italian counterpart. In the 100m final, Lamont Marcell Jacobs beat the continental record, which he had already lowered in the semi-final, with a time of 9′80. Speaking in the mixed zone, the Italian runner made no secret of his delight and his own surprise at his resounding performance.

Were you expecting this title?

LAMONT MARCELL JACOBS No, no, my only dream when I arrived here was to reach the final. It's incredible, I don't have the words to describe this moment. I think I'll need four or five years to realise, to understand what's happened, it's incredible. I've worked really hard to get here in the best possible shape.

Italy has won two titles, including the height title. What does this represent?

It's incredible. Last night we were playing PlayStation in my room with Gianmarco (Tamberi) and we were thinking: "Imagine if we won? Nooo... It's impossible, don't think about it". But tonight I saw him win 5 minutes before me and I said to myself: "I'll do it". He's a really good guy, incredible, I love him. He's been through some bad times and now we're both Olympic champions.

You had never gone under 10 seconds this year, what did you change?

I've built up a very good team around me and I've worked hard on my mental state. Because before, when the important moments came, my legs weren't good. Now my legs respond well at the right moment. I'd like to thank my team. In training we changed the start, but above all we worked mentally. With a good diet, physiotherapy...

Text by Le Parisien with AFP

GOLDEN BALL: WHO'S THE FAVOURITE AFTER EURO 2021 AND THE COPA AMERICA?

The 2020-2021 football season came to a close this weekend with Argentina's victory in the Copa America and Italy's victory in Euro 2021. Will this influence the votes for the next Ballon d'Or? It probably will.

After a year's hiatus due to Covid, the Ballon d'Or will be making a comeback in 2021. Although, in theory, the most prestigious of individual trophies rewards the world's best player over a calendar year in December, it is often the previous season that is judged.

In 2019, for example, the list of nominees was published in October, and voting took place in the following weeks. In other words, the 2020-2021 financial year, and the major international competitions that have just ended, will serve as a benchmark. And some players - especially one - are already well ahead of the game...

Messi: the Copa America that could (should?) make the difference

The Rosario genius has already won the Ballon d'Or six times, without having won a single major competition with Argentina. And now that his Albiceleste tally is unblocked, the seventh trophy looks more than within his grasp...

Best player of the Copa America, joint top scorer and best passer of the ball, Messi finally got everyone to agree, wearing the national team jersey on his shoulders, and was also congratulated by Neymar, the unfortunate finalist.

That's enough to strike a chord with the voters, especially as La Pulga is coming off a fine season with Barça. Despite a false start in the summer of 2020 and a slow start to the autumn, the Argentinian finished the 2020-2021 campaign with 38 goals (including 30 in La Liga) and 14 assists. So yes, he only lifted the Copa del Rey, not La Liga or the Champions League. But it's still a solid record. Enough, at least, to make him the number 1 favourite.

Jorginho: two top competitions in the bag, but one thing missing

With Chelsea's Champions League triumph and Italy's Euro triumph, there are only two players this season to have won the two biggest competitions on the Old Continent: Emerson and Jorginho.

Given the former's playing time at club level (88 minutes in the Premier League), his case is quickly settled. As for Jorginho, the debate is wide open. Paired up with N'Golo Kanté for the Blues, and with Marco Verratti and Nicolo Barella in recent matches for the Nazionale, the midfielder has proved that he is a well-rounded, hard-working player who doesn't mind working in the background.

But this last point is also his "weakness" in the race for the Ballon d'Or. Jorginho is never one of his team's star players, nor is he a stats player (8 goals, 2 assists this season with Chelsea). The more fussy will also criticise him for missing his penalty against England.

Asked after the game about the Ballon d'Or, the Brazilian by birth did not seem to believe in it himself. "I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to think about it. I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to think about it, I just want to enjoy this moment with the others."

Kanté, Mbappé, Benzema: France's Euro campaign takes its toll

And what about Les Bleus? With their elimination at the hands of Switzerland in the last 16 of the Euros, they seem to be a little out of the game... Before the competition, there were three credible contenders: N'Golo Kanté, Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema.

Kanté has been sparkling for Chelsea this season, and was on a roll just after the Champions League final. But he looked exhausted during Euro 2021, and was unable to regain that level with the French national team. Perhaps it's also because he didn't have the same players alongside him, as Paul Pogba doesn't have the profile of Jorginho.

Mbappé was a self-proclaimed candidate for the Ballon d'Or after a successful 2020-2021 campaign (42 goals for PSG), but he failed to score a single goal during the Euros, and ended the competition with an image clouded by clumsy statements.

As for Benzema, he has nothing to reproach himself for with Real (30 goals), and nothing to reproach himself for with Les Bleus this summer either (4 goals). But here he is, finishing the season without having won a single competition.

De Bruyne, Kane, Donnarumma, Lewandowski, Ronaldo: other candidates in ambush

If Belgium had won the UEFA European Championship, Kevin De Bruyne would undoubtedly have been Lionel Messi's number 1 rival on Monday, if not the favourite, given that he was coming off a fine season with Manchester City, despite a number of fitness problems. After appearing in the middle of the group phase at the UEFA EURO 2008, the Devils' playmaker was immediately decisive, but was unable to prevent defeat by Italy in the quarter-finals. Romelu Lukaku, who won Serie A with Inter before the UEFA EURO, has shown that he is one of the most complete centre-forwards on the planet.

On the English side, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling were in the limelight with the Three Lions. But they lost the final. What's more, the former only finished 7th in the Premier League with Tottenham, while the latter endured some rather complicated months at City under Pep Guardiola.

Like Jorginho, Gianluigi Donnarumma can boast of having triumphed at Wembley. He even finished the Euro with the best player award in his hands, after a fine season in Serie A with AC Milan (2nd behind Inter). But the future Parisian is a goalkeeper, which never helps when it comes to the Ballon d'Or, and has yet to play a single Champions League match.

Robert Lewandowski, who would probably have been the winner in 2020 before it was cancelled, had another top-class 2020-2021 season, scoring 48 goals for Bayern, winning the Bundesliga, the Club World Cup and a fine run in the Champions League before being eliminated in the quarter-finals, where he was injured. He also scored three goals in the group phase of the Euro, with modest Poland, but he could not avoid going out in the first round. It's not his fault, but it's what should lose him votes.

Then there's Cristiano Ronaldo. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has only lifted the Italian Cup and Supercup this season, and his appetite for goals doesn't always do his team any favours, but he scores, again and again... 36 times with the Old Lady, 5 more times at Euro 2021 with Portugal, to finish joint top scorer. All of which is sure to score big points in the votes of observers.

C.C