Former Italian Prime Minister, politician, and businessman Silvio Berlusconi has left this world, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has chosen the United States as an ally, writes Politico.
Berlusconi, who in recent years made a ghostly impression and leaned towards Moscow, is gone, and his place in the party is being taken by a pragmatic, conservative politician who wants to connect with the international community.
For US President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s supporters in the West, Meloni’s long-term promises are important: Italy will chair the G7 next year.
Initially, there was reason for concern. Before Meloni was elected in September 2022,
she caused concern among the political elite of Western countries with his direct, far-right populism.
Meloni advocated nationalist goals, talked about stopping migration, railed against the European Union’s leadership in Brussels, and even opposed sanctions against Russia. However, within ten months everything has changed.
Antonio Tajani, the foreign minister of the Melni government and leader of the center-right Forza Italia party, told Politico that the war in Ukraine has strengthened Italy’s relationship with the US, and that the Italian government’s guiding stars are now NATO, the EU, and the UN.
This is a radically different position from the one hitherto held in Rome.
As the leader of the far-right opposition party Fratelli d’Italia, Meloni welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin when he was re-elected. After Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, she repeatedly spoke out against the sanctions, saying that they were protecting Italy’s export industry. A television program even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine emphasized the importance of maintaining good relations with Putin.
If Meloni’s partners in the western countries were problematic, then her coalition partners – even more so. Matteo Salvini, the leader of the right-wing Lega party, once came to the European Parliament wearing a T-shirt with a portrait of Putin and tried to arrange a trip to Moscow with the support of the Russian embassy.
Berlusconi, who led Forza Italia until his death in June, blamed Ukraine for starting the war
and had a personal relationship with Putin.
When Meloni came to power, fear crept into the White House. There were concerns that Meloni could undermine the G7’s support for Ukraine. However, at the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, Meloni surprised US officials by showing her eagerness to build a strong relationship with the US.
At the NATO summit in Vilnius, Meloni stood right next to Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when the G7 countries announced additional security guarantees for Kyiv.
Alessandro Politi, the director of the NATO Defense College Foundation, stated that
Meloni understood very quickly that once in government, one must take responsibility,
and the US is the main ally. Her visit to Kyiv in February was a moment when Meloni convinced the international community that she was setting the tone in the coalition and that her allies should follow suit.
However, Meloni’s support for Ukraine does not mean that everyone else in Italy thinks the same way. Some politicians, both on the left and the right, continue to maintain a pro-Russian position.
Although Meloni and Biden are likely to agree on issues affecting Ukraine, this does not necessarily mean agreement on other points. In 2019, Italy became the only G7 country to join China’s trade initiatives. They are due to be renewed in the second half of the year, and given the overall situation, the US expects Italy to withdraw from cooperation with China.
Meloni has made it clear that he will not renew his contract with Beijing, calling it a “big mistake”, but this position has yet to be officially confirmed.
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