- POLITICO's most influential people announced
- Meloni is an unexpected European leader
- The rest of Europe's influencers are both peacemakers and peacemakers
POLITICO's most influential people announced
Influencer publication POLITICO has published a ranking of the 28 most influential people in Europe who are predicted to have the most power and influence in the year 2025.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is at the top of the ranking, impressing Europe and the rest of the world with her leadership, political stability, and strength[1].
The rest of the list is divided into three categories: "Doers", "Destroyers" and "Dreamers". In these groups, we can see European Union (EU) officials, the new head of NATO, political powerhouses from different countries, and even Pope Francis.
POLITICO's leaderboard is not balanced by country of origin, gender, race or age. In fact, the only person under 40 is Arthur Mensch, a French computer scientist, who challenges Chat GPT.
For his part, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, is the only non-European member of the ranking and - perhaps surprisingly - the most popular social media personality on the list, with 18.4 million followers on the "X" network.
Meloni is an unexpected European leader
Meloni is an Italian politician who has been Prime Minister of Italy since October 2022. She is the first woman to become Prime Minister of this country. Ms Meloni is a member of the right-wing party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), which she herself founded in 2012.
Her political views are often described as nationalist, conservative, and Eurosceptic, and her party is rooted in Italy's neo-fascist tradition, but G. Meloni herself says that she does not support fascism and only emphasizes conservative values such as the traditional family, religion, and a strict migration policy.
Before becoming Prime Minister, she held various positions in Italian politics, including Youth Minister in Silvio Berlusconi's government (2008-2011). In the 2022 elections, her party received significant support from Italian voters, which enabled her to lead a right-wing coalition and become Prime Minister.
Since joining the Italian government, she has pursued tough policies on migration and LGBT+ rights issues. While many experts thought this would drive a wedge between Italy and EU leaders, the reaction to Meloni's policies has been neutral and even received limited support in Brussels.
This has led to her popularity and growing leadership, although initially, few expected this scenario. As POLITICO reports, becoming Italy's first female Prime Minister made headlines worldwide, but few expected her to stay in the job for long.
Experts believed that her ruling coalition of right-wing parties would inevitably be divided by infighting and strife. Her approach to foreign policy, such as Russia and the war in Ukraine, also raised many questions. However, these doubts proved unfounded.
Over the last two years, Meloni has consolidated his government as one of the most stable in post-war Italy, even though the country is burdened by a public debt of 137% of gross domestic product. No member of her coalition dares to challenge her rule, and even the opposition openly admits they cannot defeat her.
On the international stage, the Italian Prime Minister has toned down her anti-EU rhetoric as chair of the Eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists party, including the Polish nationalist Law and Justice party and the far-right Sweden Democrats party.
She has also become one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters, refuting earlier predictions and even accusations of pro-Russianism. In February last year, for example, she used her influence to persuade Hungarian President Orban to accept a crucial €50 billion aid package for Ukraine.
Her influence in Europe has grown as the traditional leaders of the big countries, such as Germany or France, lose some of their authority. It is thought that Meloni's star may shine even brighter in the future, as these leaders will undoubtedly find common ground with Donald Trump as US President. She has a close relationship with the US Republican Party and was even personally invited to address the crowd at CPAC, the annual US conservative summit, in 2022.
The rest of Europe's influencers are both peacemakers and peacemakers
The rest of the POLITICO ranking is divided into three categories: the "Doers", the "Disruptors" and the "Dreamers". Each of these categories includes personalities with different actions, policies and intentions, sometimes even highly polarising, who undoubtedly have a huge influence on Europe, both positive and negative.
Among the "Doers" are Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (EC); Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader who continues the war in Ukraine; Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland; Nadia Calvino, President of the European Investment Bank, and the Polish Member of the European Parliament in charge of the budget, Piotr Serafin, the EU's European Commissioner for the Budget, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, Stephanie Riso, Director-General of the EC Budget Department, Antonio Costa, President of the Council of European Leaders, and Sabine Weyand, Director-General of the EC Trade Department.
The "Demolitionists" include Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union; Therese Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the EC for Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition; Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw; Marine Le Pen of France's far-right, Raffael Fitto, Vice-President of the EC, the leader of the Hungarian opposition, and the Hungarian Prime Minister. Orban's critic Peter Magyar, Herbert Kickl, leader of Austria's neo-fascist Freedom Party (FPÖ), German MEP Sahra Wagenknecht, and Udo Zolle, right-hand man of EPP leader Manfred Weber.
The "Dreamers" include the new head of NATO, Mark Rutte, the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, Andriy Yermak, the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban, the CEO of Germany's largest arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Pope Francis, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and artificial intelligence researcher A. Mensch.
