The official portrait of Giorgia Meloni captures the features of the President of the Council in 2023, a few months after she came to power. The tight framing underscores her command of her institutional image. Credits: Governo Italiano, CC BY 3.0 IT.
After 1,413 days at the helm of Italy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni holds a record this Friday, September 4, 2026. Her government is the longest-lasting in republican history. Fratelli d’Italia is marking this milestone in Bari and wants to turn the stability of its coalition into an argument for the 2027 Italian legislative elections. But rising employment and unemployment at a low point coexist with moderate growth and a sharply contested social record.
An Objective Record, Carefully Staged
The record is based on an exact count. Giorgia Meloni and her ministers swore in on October 22, 2022. By September 4, 1,413 days had passed since they took office. The government thus surpasses Silvio Berlusconi’s second cabinet, which lasted 1,412 days. He governed from June 2001 to April 2005, until the handover. This is the record for a continuous government, not the cumulative length of a leader in office. Berlusconi headed four governments for nearly ten years in total.
Fratelli d’Italia chose the port of Bari, in Puglia, to give this institutional milestone political significance. The event’s official page announces an opening at 6 p.m. at the new cruise terminal. A speech by Giorgia Meloni is scheduled for the evening. At midday Friday, neither the content of that address nor the actual turnout is yet known. The event remains an announced gathering, not a done deal.
The President of the Council nonetheless set the tone early in the morning. In a message posted on X, she presents stability as the condition that makes it possible to plan, decide, and keep commitments. She also says her coalition will go back before voters next year with its record and its plans. This wording clearly sets a pre-campaign sequence, without constituting a formal declaration of candidacy or the legal opening of a campaign.
Jobs, The Main Argument In The Record
To accompany the record, FDI is distributing a 28-page booklet titled Più stabilità per un’Italia più forte. The party gathers indicators on labor, taxes, security, immigration, health care, and international influence. It claims more than one million additional jobs since fall 2022 and 1.3 million more permanent employees. It also cites unemployment at 5.8% and €21 billion in tax cuts for individuals. This selection remains a partisan case: each figure must be placed in its period and scope.
The latest provisional data from Istat support part of the picture. The institute counted 24.37 million people employed in July 2026, 307,000 more than a year earlier. Employment, however, was virtually unchanged from June. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8%, while the rate for ages 15–24 reached 18.9%. The employment rate, which measures the share of people of working age who are actually employed, held at 63.2%.
In October 2022, Istat counted 23.231 million employed people. By July 2026, the figure was about 1.14 million higher. This comparison confirms the general order of magnitude cited by the majority. It does not prove that every job is directly the result of its policies. Over the past year alone, the increase came mainly from permanent employees, up 303,000. Self-employed workers gained 85,000 jobs, while fixed-term contracts fell by 82,000.
Messaging on irregular arrivals shows even more clearly the risks of quick comparisons. The booklet puts arrivals at roughly 16,000 during the first seven months of 2026. It says this total is down 55% year over year and 80% from 2023. Both percentages can be accurate while describing different trends. Presenting only the most striking one without its reference year would prevent readers from understanding the trend. The €21 billion fiscal total also remains an FDI claim. Its measures and beneficiaries are not broken down on a consistent basis.
An Economy Growing, But Slowly
The main contrast lies between improvement in the labor market and the overall pace of the economy. The public finance document adopted by the government forecasts real gross domestic product growth of 0.6% in 2026. Since then, Istat has measured GDP growth of 0.2% in the second quarter. Over one year, growth reaches 1%. Italy is therefore not in recession, but its expansion remains modest compared with the transformation narrative promoted by the majority.
This nuance is at the heart of the criticism directed at the government. Veronica De Santis teaches economics at Luiss University in Rome. Speaking to the foreign press, she recalled that “stability is a tool, not an end in itself.” She judges the government by the long-term growth it produces. On the left, Elly Schlein contrasts the Bari celebration with households’ everyday expenses. For his part, CGIL general secretary Maurizio Landini focuses on wages, precarious work, pensions, and access to health care. These positions do not replace public data series. They shift the debate from longevity to the concrete effects of government action.
A Coalition Held Together Despite Its Differences
The government’s longevity stems first from the strength of its majority. Fratelli d’Italia governs with Matteo Salvini’s League and Forza Italia. Differences exist, especially over military aid to Ukraine or certain economic priorities, but they have not led to a break. Giorgia Meloni has kept overall political control while leaving her allies separate spaces to speak.
Speaking to RFI, Massimiliano Panarari describes the President of the Council as the “balance point” of this alliance. He is a professor of communication sociology at the University of Modena. He also highlights Forza Italia’s role in attracting a more moderate electorate. In a country that has seen nearly 70 governments in eight decades, this continuity is in itself a notable change. It does not, however, predetermine either the quality of each decision or the vote ahead.
The 2027 Legislative Elections Are Not Yet Scheduled
In Italy, the President of the Council is not elected for a personal term with a fixed end date. Her government stays in office as long as it has the confidence of Parliament. The legislature arising from the September 2022 elections is normally expected to run until 2027, unless it is dissolved early. A spring election, often mentioned by observers, therefore remains only a possibility until the official calendar is set.
Giorgia Meloni’s message and the Bari rally already have an electoral function, though. They allow FDI to turn an institutional fact into a promise. The coalition would have proven it can last and would now be asking for time to complete its program. The opposition, by contrast, is trying to separate that staying power from economic and social results.
The record thus settles a historical question, but not the political debate. It establishes Giorgia Meloni’s ability to keep her majority together for nearly four years. The 2027 campaign will hinge on another measure of time: what that stability has changed, or not changed, in Italians’ lives.