On the one hand there is the party, Brothers of Italy, and the enthusiasm of a right that gets the better of the left “in defiance of the predictions”, on the other there is the government, which stays away from ‘ fans’, and who for now is at the window, “with the beacon of the national interest to be protected”. While Matteo Salvini rides Donald Trump‘s lightning victory and marks the distance – “I think that others, even in the centre-right, thought differently”, the leader of the League is quick to declare early in the morning – the air that can be breathed Palazzo Chigi is waiting, waiting to understand the America that will come when The Donald returns to the White House. However, with a positive conviction: “Italy emerges from this vote strengthened in Europe. Meloni had already sought convergence with the US led by the Democrats and had achieved his objective, now a President from the same ‘family’ will arrive in the White House politics”, that of the conservatives.
The privileged Meloni-Musk relationship
“Italy and the United States are ‘sister’ nations, linked by an unshakable alliance, common values and a historic friendship. It is a strategic bond, which I am sure we will now strengthen even further. Good work President”, writes Giorgia Meloni addressed to the tycoon , entrusting his congratulations and those of the Italian government to Between the Italian Prime Minister and the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, as well as of
Only last September it was Meloni who wanted the richest man in the world to present her with the Atlantic Council’s prestigious ‘Global Citizen Award’ in New York, a choice that many, rightly or wrongly, had seen as a strategy of rapprochement of the Prime Minister with the Republican front. Both accustomed to rowing against the tide, a common past as an ‘underdog’ capable of overturning predictions, it was actually the third meeting between the two, after the first at Palazzo Chigi and the equally ‘chat’ one on the Atreju stage. There is no confirmation of contact between the prime minister and Musk during the day, “difficult”, it is explained, given the excited hours experienced by Tesla’s number one and the bad flu that forced Meloni home. But today many see in the South African entrepreneur, a naturalized American, the ‘bridge’ between Rome and Washington, the key man to lay the foundations of a privileged relationship that could make Meloni Trump’s reference interlocutor in Europe, alongside to that Viktor Orbàn who has always sided with the Republican candidate.
The lighthouse remains the national interest
“In reality – those close to the prime minister say they are convinced – she doesn’t need presentation cards, because she is capable of empathizing with anyone and she has demonstrated this in these two years: from Von der Leyen to Biden, without forgetting that it is with a socialist, Edi Rama, who signed the much disputed Memorandum with Albania. And was Meloni the only one the former prime minister had against, yet he had the best and most frank relationship with her”. Even with Trump, it is the belief, “it will go the same way, especially since we are referring to the same family, to the same values, those of the conservatives”. But the “lighthouse” of the government, as has been underlined by several voices, remains that of “the national interest”, which Meloni is ready to assert “net of the interlocutor in front of her, because that is the role that belongs to her”.
The unknown Ukraine
A clarification that ricochets from multiple fronts, probably fueled by the ‘ghosts’ that accompany Trump’s rise to the White House. First among others is the fear of a reversal of direction on the conflict in Ukraine, but also of a return to the Trumpian policy of tariffs and more stringent limits in the commitment of allies on the NATO budget. On the first and last headache just yesterday, during statements to the press with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte a few hours before Super Tuesday, Meloni reiterated his unwavering support for Kiev, as well as Italy’s role, “leader in NATO for quality and quantity of action”, in the Alliance.
The specter of duties
As for the issue of ‘stars and stripes’ protectionism, it was the undersecretary of the presidency Giovanbattista Fazzolari who poorly concealed the concern within the government: “Let’s hope not, it’s too early to say…”, his terse statement to Fanpage . And the Minister for Foreign Affairs and FI leader Antonio Tajani also expressed the hope “that there are no choices that penalize our country’s exports, because exports represent 40% of GDP, so I hope that there can be positions opening for Italian products that we must also export to the American market”. Two clues that prove that, despite the victory of the American right, there is some fear that agitates the Italian government for the America to come. is. But those who have heard from Meloni in these last hours show optimism. “We will seek a synthesis of everything – it is explained – and the fact of having an interlocutor from your political ‘family’ in front of you, with a matrix of common battles and values. It’s a significant added value.”
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