Brothers of Italy, but not brothers of Europe? Assessing Fratelli d’Italia ’s vision of the European Union

The astonishing growth of the Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) represents the latest upheaval in Italian politics. While scholars are conducting studies of the political profile of FdI, we know less about the party's evolving position on European integration. The article aims to study FdI's vision of the EU by analysing the party's parliamentary speeches at both national and supranational levels between 2019 and 2024. This analysis will show that the positions taken by the party are far from being hard Eurosceptic and focused on the opposition to the EU as a polity, whereas it is committed to establishing an alternative right vision of what the EU should be, with emphasis on the need for the EU to play a leading role in a mutated geopolitical scenario. In framing this vision, FdI's coming to power has played a minor role, although the onset of the Ukrainian war has hastened the party's reorientation.