On 26 September 2022, the results of the Italian parliamentary elections were announced. The centre-right coalition of the Brotherhood of Italy, the Unionist Party and Forza Italia won the election.

The head of the Brotherhood of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni, became the first female Prime Minister of Italy and was sworn in on 22 October. But Meloni has no experience in government or diplomacy, so she will have to rely on her cabinet, especially the team of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (head of the Forza Italia party). Meloni was appointed Minister of Youth Education by then Prime Minister Berlusconi in 2008, making her the youngest minister in Italy’s history. Although Berlusconi is too old to take up the post this time, his party still has a great influence on Italy.

The return of the Power for Italy party to power is a godsend for the World Dog Alliance (WDA), because its loyal ally in Italy, Michela Brambilla, is a very important member of the Italian Congress. Michela Brambilla is a member of Forza Italia and is trusted by Berlusconi.

Michela Brambilla is not only a member of Congress, but also a member of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s cabinet, where she was Minister of Culture and Tourism. She is also the chair of the cross-party parliamentary group for animal welfare, which includes over 40 lawmakers, all of whom represent the voice of animals in the Congress. In 2015, the WDA began working with Michela Brambilla to promote a number of bills in the Italian Congress to ban the eating of dogs and cats, and punish dog thefts, with great success.

Michela Brambilla also met Mr. Genlin (founder of the WDA) right away, and she was so impressed by his ideas that she invited him to Italy on several occasions to participate in events.

On 26 September 2019, the WDA held its 5th Dog Lovers’ Day on Capitol Hill in the US, where it unveiled the International Agreement to Prohibit the Eating of Dogs and Cats, which was signed by dozens of members of the US Congress. On 17 October 2019, Michela Brambilla, on behalf of the Italian Cross-Party Animal Rights Group, supported Italy’s accession to the International Agreement to Prohibit the Eating of Dogs and Cats and presented the International Dog Award to Genlin, the founder of the WDA. At the same time, Genlin was invited to be interviewed twice by the most influential Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. In the interviews, Genlin said that “the issue of dog meat is not a question of eating or not eating, it is a question of moral standards, it is a question of moral values” and that he was convinced that the International Agreement to Prohibit the Eatings of Dogs and Cats will be realised and that if Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom come together to initiate this Agreement, the whole world will rise to the occasion.

According to Michela Brambilla, she has introduced 47 bills in the Congress, many of them are related to animals, and is working to promote animal education in schools and to give animals the status of family members.

The change in Italy’s political situation will bring new opportunities for the WDA to ban dog and cat meat in Italy, and may even bring a major breakthrough in the implementation of the International Agreement to Prohibit the Eating of Dogs and Cats in Europe, so let’s wait and see!