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Giorgia Meloni had dinner with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday, because the Italian prime minister seeks to strengthen ties with the US president-elect forward of his swearing in.
The Italian chief’s unannounced journey comes days earlier than outgoing US President Joe Biden is because of go to Rome and the Vatican for what might be his final abroad journey earlier than relinquishing workplace.
“That is very thrilling — I’m right here with a unbelievable lady — the prime minister of Italy,” Trump advised the viewers at Mar-a-Lago. “She has actually taken Europe by storm, and everybody else, and we’re simply having dinner tonight.”
Meloni thanked Trump on Sunday for his “hospitality” and a “stunning night” and stated she was “able to work collectively” with the brand new administration.
She was an ardent admirer of Trump throughout his first time period — when she was nonetheless a fringe opposition determine — and has extra not too long ago cast a detailed friendship with Trump adviser Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.
Additionally current at Mar-a-Lago was Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, who referred to as Meloni a “nice ally, a robust chief”.
Members of Meloni’s rightwing Brothers of Italy celebration have hoped that the 2 leaders’ ideological affinity will assist her emerge as one in all Trump’s European interlocutors. The president-elect has expressed enthusiasm for the Italian chief, whom he additionally met final month in Paris in the course of the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Meloni is one in all a handful of international leaders to have trekked to Mar-a-Lago to fulfill Trump after his re-election and earlier than his inauguration on January 20. Rightwing Trump allies Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Argentina’s Javier Milei have each made visits. Canada’s premier Justin Trudeau additionally made an emergency go to after Trump threatened to slap Canada with 25 per cent import tariffs.
Meloni’s journey got here as she confronted her hardest diplomatic problem since taking workplace amid home political outcry over the arrest in Iran of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala.
Sala, who was in Iran on a legitimate journalist visa, was detained simply days after Italy arrested an Iranian engineer and businessman wished within the US for allegedly exporting drone know-how used to kill three American troopers in Jordan a yr in the past.
The Italian journalist advised her household in a uncommon name dwelling that she was being held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin jail, sleeping on the ground, with a light-weight on in any respect hours.
Iran’s official state information company, IRNA, has reported that Sala was arrested for “violating the legal guidelines of the Islamic Republic”, with out giving any additional particulars.
Nevertheless, the Iranian embassy in Rome has explicitly linked Sala’s detention to Italy’s December 16 arrest of Mohammad Abedini, an engineer, whose accelerated launch has been demanded by Tehran.
Abedini, now being held in jail in Milan, is sought by the US to face trial on numerous felony fees for allegedly “illegally exporting refined digital parts” from the US to Iran, in keeping with the US Division of Justice.
Tehran has warned Rome of injury to bilateral ties if its citizen is extradited to the US. Abedini is because of seem in court docket in Italy on January 15, the place his lawyer will plead for him to be taken out of jail and put underneath home arrest.
The US justice division has warned Rome towards such a step, citing previous precedents underneath which suspects sought by the US for felony trial have managed to flee from Italian home arrest.
The Sala case isn’t the one difficulty more likely to check Rome’s relationship with Washington, as soon as Trump returns to the White Home later this month.
Companies worry that Italy’s financial system will undergo a heavy blow if Trump follows by way of on his promise to impose heavy tariffs on all imports. Rome can also be far in need of its Nato dedication to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence — a giant focus for Trump, who needs Europe to pay extra of its personal safety bills.
Extra reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome
