“The non-ritual trip” to Florida two weeks ago, to meet Donald Trump, during the days of Cecilia Sala’s detention in Iran, “was an idea that was born during the meeting we had in Paris”, on the occasion of the inauguration of the restoration of Notre-Dame.
“In my opinion, it was an opportunity, and it was an opportunity, to confirm a relationship that promises to be very solid, I don’t know if I can say privileged, but certainly very solid.” These are the words spoken by Giorgia Meloni in the press conference at the beginning of the year. “Clearly”, specified the Prime Minister, who will be present at Trump’s inauguration ceremony in Washington tomorrow, “Italy and the United States have, as I have said many times, particularly strong relations and this regardless of the color of the governments. I have had an excellent relationship also with the Democratic administration, with President Biden, but certainly a scenario in which there are two conservative leaders at the helm of the two nations can further strengthen convergence. And I think this would eventually also be an added value not only for the ‘Italy but for Europe as a whole”.
“During the meeting at Mar-a-Lago”, Meloni further explained, “we talked above all about the general framework without going into the specifics of the individual dossiers, also because you know that the American rules are quite strict on this, the President of the United States to date is still Joe Biden. Then clearly after the 20th we will go into the merits of the various dossiers. Certainly the reception has been beyond expectations.”
The understanding between the two leaders promises to be excellent, also due to Trump’s praise in that meeting at Mar-a-Lago: “It’s very exciting, I’m here with a fantastic woman, the Italian prime minister. She really took to assault on Europe”, he said, addressing the guests present in the villa that evening and pointing to Meloni. Just three weeks earlier, on the sidelines of a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, Trump said that Meloni is “a great leader and person.”
In the press conference on January 9th, pressed by questions from journalists, Meloni also wanted to reassure Italians about Trump’s statements regarding Greenland and Panama: “I would like to exclude that in the next few years the USA will attempt to annex by force territories that interest them. Unlike some readings that I sometimes hear, read, listen to about Donald Trump, we have already seen Donald Trump President of the United States of America, so we are faced with a person who, when he does something, reasonably , he does it for a reason. So let’s ask ourselves the reason. I think that Trump’s statements are more of a message to some big players, some other big global players, rather than hostile claims towards those countries.”
And as regards Ukraine, “have I already said on the peace conditions that Trump could be a person who can move forward with the solution on this? I think so, but I don’t foresee that this means abandoning Ukraine and Trump has already widely declared”, continued the prime minister. Meloni also addressed the relationship with Musk, who Trump tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency.
The prime minister assured that Musk “is not a danger to democracy”, maintaining instead that there have been “interferences” in other cases, i.e. when “wealthy people use resources to influence political choices and exponents, as was the case with Soros. The problem – continued Meloni – is therefore that Musk is influential or rich or that he is not left-wing?”. The political and personal affinity between Meloni and Trump therefore appears robust. However, it will be necessary to see how Meloni will manage this relationship on some delicate dossiers such as defense spending: Trump intends to present himself at the NATO summit in June asking that member countries spend 5% of GDP.