The Guardian view on Europe’s firewall against the far right: in growing need of repair | Editorial

The fragility of France’s cordon sanitaire against Le Pen is part of a worrying wider pattern, as centrist parties seek to revive their fortunes

Earlier this autumn, Giorgia Meloni laid out the strategic path to a new era of nationalist populism across Europe. Addressing a gathering of the French far-right party Identité-Libertés, which is led by Marine Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, Italy’s prime minister underlined the need to work towards “the unity of the right and the centre-right” adding “I hope that one day this can also happen in France … but that will depend on you.”

Ms Meloni knows of what she speaks. Her Brothers of Italy party, which has a lineage going back to postwar neofascist movements, became hegemonic under her leadership by mounting a reverse takeover of the Italian right. Less than a decade ago, it scored a marginal 4% in a general election. Currently, it stands at 31% in the polls. Forza Italia, the centre-right party founded by Silvio Berlusconi and a coalition partner in Ms Meloni’s government, is at 8%.