Italy’s Meloni strains to hold her coalition together over Ukraine and EU rearmament – POLITICO

While France has “always had a cold relationship with the United States … no Italian government has ever questioned the relationship with the U.S. on defense,” Italian General Leonardo Tricarico, who was military advisor to several prime ministers, told POLITICO.

After Italy’s defeat in World War II, added the person quoted above, “we learned forever that there is not a place for us as a global superpower. We can play a role everywhere in the world, but we can do it only if we are together with the U.S. Certainly we must also do it within the EU — but not only within the EU.” A transatlantic breakup would also make it harder for both Europe and the U.S. to tackle China, the official added.

Allies are seemingly already aware of Italy’s discomfort. In an interview with leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera over the weekend, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sought to reassure Rome that its leading defense firm, Leonardo, would “benefit greatly” from the defense spending push and play a significant role in a rearmed Europe. On top of that, the latest update to the EU rearmament plans — which includes provisions for private-sector financing — already goes some way toward appeasing Rome’s concerns.

But none of that is likely to reassure Meloni fully. In the view of Stefano Stefanini, a former top Italian diplomat and NATO ambassador, Meloni’s actions also reflect a faith, perhaps misplaced, that the transatlantic alliance can still be saved, and that its demise has been exaggerated. Center-left lawmaker and former European Affairs Minister Enzo Amendola agreed, telling POLITICO that the premier’s reconciliation efforts would leave Italy in a “no man’s land between the EU and the U.S.”

Nevertheless, it’s a view shared by Italians across the political spectrum.”I doubt there will ultimately be a complete rupture between the United States and the European Union,” said Danilo Della Valle, an MEP with the left-populist 5Star Movement. European rearmament is, after all, what Trump is asking for, he added. 

One of the people familiar with the government’s thinking went so far as to argue that tensions with the U.S. were being exploited by opportunistic French and German leaders — and that a rearmed Germany was actually more dangerous than Russia or the U.S.