Meloni Backs Ukraine: Atlantic Alliance a ‘Cornerstone’ of Italy’s New Government

There is invariably more going on in European politics than the reductive effort to place Europeans such as Viktor Orbán into American domestic-politics boxes. The Italian election that put Giorgia Meloni in a position to form a government is a perfect example. Meloni has some important commonalities with American social conservatives, but she is neither the heroine of the American Right nor the boogeywoman of the American Left that her American press notices would have you believe. Some of the issues in intra-European politics are different from our own — witness Meloni going after Emmanuel Macron by blaming the French for the Libya war’s effects on immigration (bear in mind that Italy is much closer to Tripoli than it is to London, and its fraught relationship with that region goes back to the Punic Wars), and denouncing France’s paternal role in its old African colonies:

In the latest news, Meloni is putting the survival of her government on the line in order to pursue a foreign policy that is in harmony with the approach of the EU and NATO to the war in Ukraine:

Her uncompromising statement came after her conservative ally Silvio Berlusconi reiterated his sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of triggering the war. In a sharply worded declaration, Meloni said any party that disagreed with her foreign policy line should not join the government, which is set to take office next week. “Italy with us in government will never be the weak link in the West,” she said. Meloni has staunchly defended Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in February, and has supported Western sanctions against Moscow. “On one thing I have been, am, and will always be clear. I intend to lead a government with a clear and unequivocal foreign policy line,” she said.

She continued, “Italy is a full and proud member of Europe & the Atlantic alliance. Anyone who disagrees with this cornerstone cannot be part of the government, even if this means not forming the government.” Berlusconi has backed down from his remarks in the aftermath.