NATO’s top official, Mark Rutte, met Meloni after a trip to Germany. At the top of the agenda: the war in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited Italy on Tuesday, where he met with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella to discuss defense and support for Ukraine.
In July 2025, Italy will host the next conference on the reconstruction of the country ravaged by more than two years of conflict with Russia.
Since taking office a few months ago, Rutte has sought to shore up Western support for Ukraine.
“As for Ukraine, we are establishing a new command, the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine, which will become fully operational in the coming months, and we are on the right track path to fulfill our commitment to provide Ukraine with 40 billion euros in military support in 2024. We will continue to support Ukraine because Ukraine’s fight is our fight,” the NATO chief said. .
Giorgia Meloni, for her part, calls for greater involvement of European countries in NATO.
“As you all know, we believe that it is necessary that alongside the North American pillar of the alliance there is a European pillar. This is a vision that we share with the new secretary general (of the “NATO), and we share that it is essential for all of us to work towards an innovative, competitive European defense industry, where NATO and the European Union can complement each other”, declared the head of the Italian government .
At a time when Ukrainian troops are in difficulty, NATO countries are divided on the aid to be given to kyiv. Italy, for example, opposes Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles against targets on Russian soil.
Germany is not in favor of it either. During their meeting in Berlin, the head of NATO and Olaf Scholz addressed another subject of concern: the involvement of the United States in the Alliance in the event of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.
