Meloni says she does not regret building ties with Trump

ANKARA: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday she stood by her effort to maintain a close relationship with US President Donald Trump, even after a run of public disputes between the two leaders.

Speaking in Ankara after a Nato summit that was also attended by Trump, Meloni was asked whether she had any second thoughts about the political effort she had invested in the US president. She rejected that suggestion and linked her approach to a broader commitment to transatlantic unity rather than a personal calculation tied only to Trump.

"No, I absolutely don't regret anything I've done."

Meloni said she had made that choice because she believed in the cohesion of the West and added that it was not a line she adopted only after Trump’s return, but one she had followed with all her counterparts.

“I made that political investment because I believe in the unity of the West. It's not a strategy I adopted with Trump's arrival, but one I have pursued with all my counterparts”, she stated.

Relations have deteriorated in recent months

Meloni had previously been regarded as one of Trump’s closest partners in Europe. More recently, however, the relationship has come under strain, with Trump criticising her in media appearances and on social media.

Trump first publicly rebuked Meloni in April after she criticised him for attacking Pope Leo over the pontiff’s condemnation of the Iran war. In March, Italy also refused permission for US military aircraft heading to the Middle East to use the Sigonella air base in Sicily.

Meloni did not respond to a social media post by Trump on Sunday that showed her looking up at him alongside the caption: RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.

Areas of agreement remain

Even while acknowledging the state of the relationship, Meloni said there were still issues on which she and Trump remained aligned. She pointed to immigration and opposition to what she described as woke culture as areas of common ground.

At the Nato summit, Trump appeared more restrained in his public comments about the Italian leader, calling Meloni a nice person. At the same time, he repeated his criticism that she had not done enough to back his military attacks on Iran, which are expected to resume.

Meloni was the only European head of government to attend Trump’s inauguration last year.