Written by Angelo Amanti and Crispian Palmer
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of the European leaders closest to Donald Trump, said on Thursday she believed the U.S. president-elect would defend Western interests once in office and would not abandon Ukraine.
Meloni went to Florida last weekend to hold unannounced talks with Trump, and received praise from the incoming president, who described her as a “wonderful woman.”
Meloni said, in a press conference in Rome, that she had received an invitation to attend Trump's inauguration on January 20, and was keen to include it on her agenda.
“If I could, I would happily go,” she told reporters.
Meloni's supporters hope that the conservative leader will have privileged access to Trump over the next four years and become a bridge between Washington and Europe.
She used the two-hour news conference on Thursday to allay fears that Trump might break with Washington's traditional European allies as he pursues a “Make America Great Again” agenda.
Trump alarmed many Western capitals this week when he refused to rule out using military or economic action to pursue acquisitions of the Panama Canal and Greenland, and also floated the idea of turning Canada into a US state.
“With regard to the issue of Greenland and Panama, I feel confident in ruling out the possibility that the United States will try to annex the territories of interest by force in the coming years,” Meloni said.
She said Trump was simply signaling that he would not allow major strategic concerns close to the United States to fall under the control of foreign competitors, such as China.
“I think these statements are a strong way of saying that the United States will not stand idly by while other major global players move into areas of strategic importance to the United States and, I would add, the West,” Meloni said.
“Diplomacy and deterrence”
Meloni also rejected speculation that Trump would stop supporting Ukraine and try to force it to accept unfavorable terms to end its nearly three-year war with Russia.
“I do not expect the United States to disengage from Ukraine,” Meloni said, adding that the only way to convince Moscow to negotiate is to be in a difficult position.
He added, “Trump has the ability to balance diplomacy and deterrence, and I expect that to be the case this time as well.”
Meloni's only criticism of the Trump program at hand was his pledge to impose tariffs on global imports to the United States.
She said: “I think that tariffs are not the right solution, but I believe that solutions can be found by talking with the partners of the European Union and the United States.”
Defense spending is also likely to be a bone of contention between Italy and Washington, with Trump calling on NATO members to raise their military budgets to 5% of production.
Italy currently spends barely 1.5% of its GDP on defence. Meloni sidestepped the question on Thursday, saying the problem lies in European budget rules that do not give governments room to run a deficit when it comes to military spending.
“The issue is more internal for the European Union which must define the tools if it wants to have a competitive defence. But unfortunately it does not have these tools or they are not sufficient.”
