(AFP) – Italy’s Giorgia Meloni told American conservatives on Saturday that the United States and Europe would remain close under Donald Trump, despite soaring tensions between the allies including over the fate of Ukraine. The Italian prime minister was addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) via videolink from Rome, joining a roster of right-wing European politicians participating in the summit outside Washington.
Ties between staunch allies Europe and the United States have been strained in the first weeks of Trump’s second term, as the US leader has reached out to Russia and warned of a shift away from Europe, raising fears of Trump’s commitment to the NATO alliance. Blaming “ruling classes” and “mainstream media,” Meloni insisted Europe was not “lost.”
“Our adversaries hope that President Trump will move away from us (Europe),” Meloni said. But, “knowing him as a strong and effective leader I bet that those who hope for divisions will be proven wrong.” Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, was the only EU leader to attend Trump’s inauguration in January, and her allies have presented her as a potential bridge between the European Union and the US president.
But the nationalist leader has largely refrained from commenting on Trump’s blitz of initiatives and comments since then. Despite her strong support for Kyiv in its war with Russia, she has notably said nothing in public about Trump’s interventions on the conflict — this week calling Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” and falsely blaming Ukraine for starting the war.
Trump has moved to sideline Kyiv and European allies from talks on the future of the three-year-old conflict, alarming allies who think he will offer concessions to Moscow. On Saturday, Meloni said there was a “growing awareness in Europe that security is now the top priority” and praised support for Ukraine but did not comment on Trump’s actions.
In Ukraine, “a proud people fight for their freedom against the brutal aggression,” she said. “We must continue today, working together for a just and lasting peace, a peace that can only be built with the contribution of all, but above all, with strong leaderships.”
– Calls to cancel –
Meloni addressed the conference despite opposition demands that she cancel after firebrand former Trump advisor Steve Bannon used an apparent Nazi salute at the event on Thursday, saying she “couldn’t miss” it. Opposition MPs demanded Meloni follow the example of Jordan Bardella, president of France’s anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, who pulled out Friday because of what he called Bannon’s “gesture alluding to Nazi ideology.”
Meloni “should have the decency to disassociate herself from this neo-fascist gathering,” Elly Schlein, leader of Italy’s center-left Democratic Party said. “She has not said a word for days about Trump’s insults and frontal attacks on Ukraine and the European Union,” she added in a statement Friday. “She is unable to defend Italian and European interests because she does not want to displease the new American administration.”
Giorgio Mule, vice-president of the Chamber of the Deputies and a member of the right-wing Forza Italia, a partner in Meloni’s coalition government, said Saturday that Bannon’s gesture was “extremely serious.” “I’m sure Giorgia Meloni will have no difficulty in distancing herself from it,” he told Giornale Radio.
© 2024 AFP
