On her first day in office Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni renamed the country’s economic development department as the “Industry and Made in Italy Ministry”. It appeared to be a small bureaucratic tweak. An easy change of branding for a government inheriting almost €3 trillion ($3.2 trillion) of debt that will curb spending on new policy initiatives. Instead it was a statement of intent by Italy’s first female prime minister of her plan to introduce what some have dubbed a nationalist vision for corporate Italy — one that views dozens of state-owned companies as a way to cement power and drive change in the economy.

From a €20 billion deal to buy Telecom Italia’s network to the recent sale of a stake in ITA Airways and attempts to restrict the role of Chinese owners at Pirelli SpA, the Meloni government has already intervened in Italy Inc. The aim: to influence and reshape the country’s long term industrial strategy and institutions. Meloni is not the first Italian premier to intervene in state-owned companies. But the outsider, who came to power as leader of a small far-right party, is determined to secure control over strategic infrastructure.