Giorgia Meloni visits Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
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Giorgia Meloni dined with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday, as the Italian prime minister sought to strengthen ties with the US president-elect ahead of his swearing-in ceremony.
the Italian The leader’s unannounced trip comes days before outgoing US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Rome and the Vatican on his final foreign trip before stepping down.
“This is so exciting – I’m here with a wonderful woman – the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the audience at Mar-a-Lago. “She’s really taken Europe and everyone else by storm, and we’re just having dinner tonight.”
Meloni thanked Trump on Sunday for his “hospitality.” and a “beautiful evening” and said she was “ready to work together” with the new administration.
She was a big admirer of Trump during his first term – when she was still an opposition figure – and recently forged a close friendship with Trump adviser Elon Musk, the richest man world.
Also present at Mar-a-Lago was Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, who called Meloni “a great ally, a strong leader.”
Members of Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party had hoped that the ideological affinity between the two leaders would help her emerge as one of Trump’s European interlocutors. The president-elect expressed enthusiasm for the Italian leader, whom he also met last month in Paris at the inauguration of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Meloni was one of a handful of foreign leaders who traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump after his re-election and before his inauguration on January 20. Trump’s right-wing allies, Viktor Hungary’s Orbán and Argentina’s Javier Milei both visited. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also made an emergency visit after Mr. Trump threatened to impose a 25% import tax on Canada.
Meloni’s trip comes as she faces her toughest diplomatic challenge since taking office amid domestic political outcry over the arrest in Iran. Italian journalist Cecilia Sala.
Sala, who was in Iran on a valid journalist visa, was detained just days after Italy arrested an Iranian engineer and businessman wanted in the US for allegedly exporting drone technology used to kill three American soldiers in Jordan a year ago.
The Italian journalist told her family in a rare call home that she was being held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin prison, sleeping on the floor with the lights on.
Iran’s official state news agency, IRNA, reported that Sala was arrested for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic” without providing further details.
However, the Iranian embassy in Rome explicitly linked Sala’s detention to Italy’s December 16 arrest of Mohammad Abedini, an engineer whose swift release was demanded by Tehran.
According to the US Department of Justice, Abedini, currently detained in Milan, was ordered by the US to stand trial on various criminal charges for allegedly “illegally exporting sophisticated electronic components” from the US to the US. Iran.
Tehran has warned Rome of damage to bilateral relations if its citizens are extradited to the US. Abedini will appear in court in Italy on January 15, where his lawyer will ask for him to be released from prison and placed under house arrest.
The US Department of Justice has warned Rome against making such a move, citing precedents in which suspects sought by the US for criminal trial have managed to escape. escaped Italian house arrest.
The Sala case is not the only issue likely to test Rome’s relationship with Washington, once Trump returns to the White House later this month.
Businesses fear that the Italian economy will be hit hard if Trump follows through on his promise to impose heavy tariffs on all imports. Rome also falls far short of NATO’s commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense – a big focus for Trump, who wants Europe to pay more for its own security costs.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome
