What are the divisions in Meloni's coalition? 

The three parties that make up the coalition (her own Fratelli d’Italia, Matteo Salvini’s Lega, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia) are all indispensable for the government’s existence. And while sharing a basic conservative viewpoint, each one of them has a different history, different constituency, and different world views. It’s noteworthy that they belong to three distinct political groups in the European Parliament.

Indeed, it may be foreign policy where the biggest rifts lie, particularly between the pro-Europe strain of Forza Italia and those inside Lega who’ve called for “Italexit.” The coalition also contains both strongly pro-NATO-and-Ukraine forces, and friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meloni’s government may be well-positioned to last — in part because Europe itself is so fragile.

A rift that emerged starkly in the days leading up to the formation of the government, when Italian media published leaked audios in which Berlusconi was telling his party’s newly elected lawmakers that he had been exchanging “very sweet letters” and bottles of booze with Putin and blamed Ukrainian President Zelensky for provoking the war. Meloni wasted no time in responding: “Italy is firmly part of Europe and NATO. Those who do not agree with this cornerstone will not be part of the government, at the cost of giving up the government.”

It was just one of many mini crises bound to arise, but La Stampa columnist Lucia Annunziata notes that Meloni’s government may be well-positioned to last — in part because Europe itself is so fragile.

“Europe is not on the verge of a general crisis, but it’s a situation of criss-crossing instabilities,” writes Annunziata. “The last thing the EU wants to have is government crises in countries that are central to its equilibrium. Meloni can take advantage of these weaknesses.”

Who are Meloni's top cabinet ministers?

The composition of Meloni’s cabinet reflects the need for balance, both domestically and abroad.

For the “reassuring” face to the world, the new prime minister chose as foreign minister Forza Italia’s Antonio Tajani, well-known and respected outside of Italy for serving as president of the European Parliament.

Lega’s Giancarlo Giorgetti, Salvini’s moderate alter ego who was among the most loyal supporters to the outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi, will serve as finance minister.

Finally, Fratelli d’Italia’s Raffaele Fitto, formerly a respected member of the European People’s Party before moving to the Conservative group, of which he still represents the more moderate wing, will be in charge of European Affairs and the Recovery Plan.

Here, continuity with the previous government will be crucial, as the nearly 150 billion euros still to come from Brussels are contingent on complying with the plan agreed upon last year between Draghi and the European Commission.

But Meloni knows that her party arrived with more votes than any other in the Sept. 25 election on the wave of a demand for discontinuity. And that is represented in her governing coalition by a second face, the more radical figures put in charge of the issues that right-wing voters are traditionally most attached to.