SVT's correspondents on the Italian election: "Is there a concern within the EU"

On Sunday, Italy is heading for new elections.

According to the latest opinion polls, it now looks like the country may have its first female prime minister - Giorgia Meloni.

She is the party leader of the Brothers of Italy, who are known to be on the extreme right of Italian politics.

Opinion polls are prohibited in the last two weeks before the election, but according to previous polls, a right-wing coalition is leading. 

SVT's European correspondent David Boati is on the ground in Rome and states that Meloni's party sprung from a post-fascist party, but that she has softened her rhetoric a lot in recent years. 

- She stands above all against the politically correct and the establishment, he says. 

Anxious young voters

When SVT reports from one of the party's last public square meetings, they meet young Italians who shout "we are Italy's future" while at the same time expressing their concerns about their future, as the country has Europe's highest youth unemployment rate. 

On Sunday, Meloni faces the veteran Silvio Berlusconi from the Forza Italia party and Matteo Salvinis from the Lega, who also belong to the right-wing coalition that now looks set to take victory. 

- One of the reasons why the right side probably wins is that the left side is so divided, says Boati. 

The government: "Heading towards a winter of war"

Italy has long struggled with massive debt that pushed the country into an economic crisis.

Now the government says that, with the war and the energy crisis, they are "moving towards a winter of war".

SVT's Italy correspondent Jennifer Wegerup is in Tuscany and states that the issue that primarily dominates the election among voters is the energy issue.  

- You wonder how the winter will be and how you will manage the bills, she says. 

She states that regardless of which side wins, the situation in the country is "extremely difficult".

Italy's largest business institute recently came out and said that the country is in such bad shape economically that it risks "de-industrialization".  

- It could have enormous social, economic and security consequences if organizations and companies start to close down, she says.

Watch SVT's correspondents talk about how the Italian election affects future cooperation in the EU in the video above.