Jo McKenna: Italy Correspondent on the European Parliament Election and Giorgia Meloni's chances

The European Parliament Election kicks off today, the first since Brexit. 

The Parliament acts as a co-legislator for the European Union, the body directly elected by EU voters every five years. 

In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is seen as a frontrunner for the Parliament. 

Italy Correspondent Jo McKenna told Mike Hosking that they’re looking to young people to really make the difference when it comes to voting. 

She said that there are indicators that younger people are shifting to the right, which could work in Meloni’s favour. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joe mckennison. That'llie very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Good money, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
How much noise does the EU vote get in general.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Oh, it's getting a lot of noise in Italy at
the moment.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
And as we've talked about before, the Italian Prime Minister
Georgia Maloney is very much seen as a front runner
who's going to reshape Europe, who's attracting coalitions across different countries.
So I think this week's going to be quite an
interesting week for Georgia Maloney.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, and you get a good turnout, people are interested,
and we're looking, of course for a fairly significant shift
to the right.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yes, if they do get a good turnout, it's likely
to come from young people. They're looking to young people
to really make the difference, and there are indications that
the younger ones are shifting to the right. So that
could work in the favor of candidates like the Prime
Minister Georgia Maloney.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Would be very interesting too, because that's good for democracy.
The more people that part take Ingria, which I know
not of Do you know of Ingria? What can you
tell me about Ingria?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I've never heard of this place before.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's a tiny village until this week. It's a tiny
village in the mountains outside Turin, one of the smallest.
Initially only forty six count them inhabitants, but it has
thirty candidates running for local election this year this week,
and a couple of the candidates.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Are running against each other. They are mother and son
in opposition to each other.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
So forty six people, thirty candidates to run Angria.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, how does that work exactly?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
I'm not sure what final count is, but it's a
small town that really doesn't sound like it's got a
lot going on.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Actually, no exactly. Amanda Knox, I was reading about that
case yesterday. It seemed globally yesterday to make some fairly
significant headlines. Still after all of these years, and I
think she said when she went and wished me luck,
which it didn't seem to go well for a But
is it a big deal in Italy still?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
I think it is.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Amanda Knox, of course, was found guilty and then acquitted
of the murder of the British student Meredith Kirscher, who
was killed in two thousand and seven, but at the
time she was also convicted for slandering a barman who
she wrongly accused of being involved in the murder. And
today the courts reconvicted her for that slander and she

(02:23):
was wiping away tears in court.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
She was very upset. But his name is Patrick Lamumba.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
He's a Congolese bar owner, and he was very pleased
with that result.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Okay, fair enough, Haylos. And I was reading the other
day a piece about Lake Como and the place is
going to get in undated. And you've got a summer
coming up where you've never seen more tourists than people
in various parts of Italy, depending on where you are,
second tired a tourists. And we've discussed this before, places
like Venice. They were saying, lake Como, Yeah, they can't
cope with the traffic. You can't get an uber. I
didn't realize you didn't have ubers in Italy.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
You can get ubers in in the big cities. You
do find Uber in Rome.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
The taxi drivers pushed back on the expansion of Uber
in Italy. The cars that you find in Rome are
generally the black cars only, so they tend to be
quite expensive.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Exactly what they were saying, So what would happen is
you're calling an Uber and the car that turns up
tends to be an S class Mercedes and they're charging
you five hundred dollars to take your killometer down the road.
And the whole thing's a scam. But havn't you been
to Lake Como when you can't move and you can't
get a booking at the local restaurant and the lakers
filled with tourists on boats and stuff, is it still
worth going.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
To I think it's still stunning.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Other people I know have been going to Lake Garda,
they say that's just as beautiful.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I haven't heard too much about Garda.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
I haven't been to Garda myself, but I think Como
is still breathtaking and I would have it on my
list of places to see in Italy.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Fantastic, All right, Joe, nice to catch up with you.
Go well, see you next Thursday. Joe mckinner out of Italy.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
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