"A first step, other solutions must follow": military spending, Meloni sets the course for the EU

A day of meetings and work at Palazzo Chigi : Giorgia Meloni received Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson . At the end of the face-to-face meeting, the Prime Minister said she was satisfied with the decision announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen , to exclude defense spending from the stability pact . All of this, obviously, in the new context determined by the positions of Donald Trump 's USA on Ukraine and NATO. And, above all, in a context in which Europe, in a medium-term perspective, can no longer exclude war scenarios. An exclusion, that of military spending, always supported by the Italian government.

"It is a first step that will have to be followed by others", Meloni stressed, highlighting how today " the concept of threat and security is a much broader concept than it was in the past " and underlining the need to "spend more, but also be able to increase investments". According to the leader of FdI, the exclusion of military spending from the stability pact represents an important signal, but it will have to be accompanied by further measures. " Other solutions must follow ", she reiterated, adding that "Europe must have the courage to work concretely to consolidate that European pillar of the Atlantic alliance that has been talked about for a long time and that must be placed alongside the North American pillar".

The main objective, according to Meloni, must be to strengthen " strategic complementarity ", as NATO, especially after the accession of Sweden and Finland, continues to represent " the cornerstone of our security ". In this context, she stressed, the Atlantic alliance must adopt "an approach that is as 360 degrees as possible".

In detail, Giorgia Meloni underlined what she believes to be the crucial role of NATO in managing Ukraine's security, highlighting how guarantees to Kiev must "be realized in the context of the Atlantic alliance, because I think that this is the best framework to guarantee a peace that is neither fragile nor temporary". A stable peace, under the umbrella of NATO, can in fact prevent Europe "from falling back into the drama of war soon", while other hypotheses, she concluded, are "more complex and frankly less effective", concluded Giorgia Meloni.