The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, could have a meeting with the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, during his visit to Rome on May 7, in addition to the already confirmed talks with the Pope and his counterpart Antonio Tajani. “I think so,” Meloni replied to those who asked her, on the sidelines of the CPE summit in Yerevan, if she would meet the head of Washington’s diplomacy.
«The USA – added the prime minister – has been discussing disengagement in Europe for some time, we must strengthen our security and grow in our response capacity. It is a choice that does not depend on me, I personally do not agree with it, Italy has always kept its commitments, it has always done so within NATO even when our direct interests were not at stake, in Afghanistan as in Iraq. I don’t consider some things said about us to be correct.”
M5s: Crosetto on pilgrimage to reassure the USA on military spending
«Crosetto plans a pilgrimage to the Pentagon to reassure that Meloni was joking about the idea of diverting the 3.7 billion in military spending towards investments against the high cost of energy (a proposal that demonstrates how spending on defense or for citizens is an alternative: either one or the other) and that part of that money will indeed be used to buy US weapons for Ukraine, hoping that this will appease Trump on the American military disengagement in Italy.
In the meantime, Giorgetti goes to the Ecofin in Brussels to be told that the Stability Pact signed by Meloni two years ago against Italian interests cannot be derogated except for the non-questionable and non-negotiable defense expenses and that the only European resources that could be used to deal with the high energy costs are the unused funds of the Pnrr, i.e. those 200-odd billions that Conte gave Italy: it would be the definitive defeat for Meloni”. This was declared by the M5S parliamentarians of the Foreign, Defense and EU Policies Commissions of the Chamber and Senate.