While tensions intensify between Trump and Europe, Meloni is captured in the middle

Among the Rauco questions by the members of the opposition in this month of this month, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni noticed that he was asked repeatedly: “Are you with Europe or with the United States?”

The prime minister replied that he is always with Italy and by extension, in Europe. “I do not blindly follow Europe or the United States,” he said, adding, “but I am also for the unit of the West, and I think it is necessary for both Europe and Italy”.

Just a couple of months ago, when President Trump was inaugurated, Mrs. Meloni seemed perfectly positioned as a bridge between him and Europe. He was the only European leader in his inauguration, he combined his hostility towards liberal ideals, made friends with Elon Musk and seemed anxious to obtain the role.

Instead, while the tensions between Europe and Washington intensify, finds himself captured in the middle, balancing his ideological affinity with Mr. Trump with the need for Italy to help strengthen the safety and economy of the continent.

It is not clear that Mr. Trump, who is openly antagonistic towards Europe, wants a bridge. Furthermore, the leaders of Great Britain AND FranceBoth who exceed Italy as nuclear powers, have sought the role of connection between Europe and the White House for themselves.

Like Europe Ratchets up Military expenses and belts for a potential commercial war, Mrs. Meloni continues to preach pragmatism while trying to avoid choosing the part. The balancing deed could become more difficult to support.

Each new crisis with Mr. Trump – for a possible peace agreement with Russia, above NATO, above the rates – further underlines Mrs. Meloni’s average position, said analysts.

“He is cleverly sided until he is forced to do it and hopes that he is never forced to do so,” said Giovanni Orsina, head of the Political Science Department of Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome.

But he added: “If Atlantic Alliance is stressed more and there is a distance between the United States and Europe, this position will be more difficult to keep”.

Once a marginal fire brand with political roots in a party born from the ashes of fascism, Mrs. Meloni threw herself as a credible leader in Europe, largely thanks to her unshakable support for Ukrainian and NATO.

At national level, it has launched occasional bones in its hard line base, also introducing a “universal” ban on surrogate motherhood, while at the same time guiding a conservative tax policy that lightens the worst fears of the European leaders. Some called that pragmatism, while others have accused it of “double”, Italian for “duplicity”.

On the international stage, Mrs. Meloni has become a bundle of contradictions: an Italian nationalist apparently in tune with the international movement of Trump’s hard-Hight that guides a country whose lot is inextricably linked to the fate of Europe.

In the last two months, his main tool in not alienating or Washington or Europe has been a studied silence, or when this proved impossible, Anodyne asks the West to maintain his strength through his traditional unity.

Now, try more and more to have it in both ways.

The comments of Mrs. Meloni in the Italian Senate before a summit at the end of March of the European leaders in Brussels were some of her most extensive on the multiple controversies aroused by Mr. Trump and his administration.

A convinced supporter of Ukraine, Mrs. Meloni approved the efforts of Mr. Trump to negotiate a ceasefire, calling him “a first significant step in a path that must lead to a just and lasting peace for Ukraine”.

But while he supported his commitment to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, he was less supported vocally in favor of the Volodymy Zlelensky president of Ukraine.

After being scolded by Mr. Trump and vice -president JD Vance in the oval office in early March, did not remove the other European leaders, expressed his support for Zelensky. Instead, Mrs. Meloni replied to the fiery exchange by asking for a US-European summit. This meeting did not occur.

He criticized the response of some European leaders to the Trump administration as “a little too political” and suggested that it is “childish” to expect Italy to choose between Europe and the United States. While Italy would have willingly helped Europe to avoid a clash, he said an interview With the Financial Times published on Friday: “I’m not interested in saying:” I am in the middle, I am a protagonist. “Not now.

Unlike France and Great Britain, who brought efforts to organize European force for Ukraine, Italy has rejected the idea of ​​taking over its troops.

While Trump threatens to withdraw the commitment of the United States in Europe, Italy has widely supported the idea that Europe must invest in rearmament. Although Mrs. Meloni described the United States as the closest ally in Italy, the relatively low military spending from Rome could create friction with Mr. Trump. It drops below 2 percent of the gross domestic product required by NATO guidelines, not to mention the 5 percent driven by Washington. One of his coalition companions categorically opposes any increase.

On rates, Mrs. Meloni asked for moderation and negotiation. He warned that the retaliation rates could escape a “vicious circle” in which everyone lose, guiding inflation and limiting economic growth.

“I am convinced that we have to work concretely and with pragmatism to find common ground and avoid a commercial war that would not benefit anyone,” Meloni said in Parliament.

For now, Mrs. Meloni’s relationships with Mr. Trump and his team seem good, even if no visit to the White House has been announced.

Trump praised Mrs. Meloni at the end of February, calling her “a wonderful woman” and noting that “Italy has a very strong leadership”. Ms. Meloni Mr. Trump’s comments on X reissued.

In turn, both Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance praised, as he did in a live speech for video at the CPAC annual conference near Washington, where he has been a regular speaker for years. Their shared political agenda underlined and characterized the re -election of Trump as a great development in the rise of global conservatism.

For how long it can last her balancing deed is the question that persecutes it.

In the seaside city of Viareggio, in Italy, the spectacular annual carnival parade is famous for political satire. This year a float has characterized a statue of 50 feet by the Prime Minister. The creator of the float, Alessandro Avanzini, had dressed the figure of Mrs. Meloni in a pink jacket, swaying inside a pair of gray jodhpurs oversize of the type once favored by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Mr. Avanzini said he had deliberately left him unclear if Mrs. Meloni was wearing the Jodhpurs or for loss. Various spectators have stated that they carefully reflected the current political discussion in Italy that surrounds the ambiguity in which the prime minister excels.

“He is very intelligent in understanding when he has to wear them,” said Stefania Giusti, 48 years old, head of the agricultural project.

“When he meets Trump, he puts them, but when he goes to Brussels, he takes them away,” said Giusti. “But I don’t think he can continue so long.”

Elizabeth Djinis AND Virginia Digesano Contributed relationships.