Italy is loyal to the United States
without subordination, Premier Giorgia Meloni said in an
interview with news agency ADNKronos Friday.
"We are determined to assert our interests, in the wake of the
traditional friendship that binds us to the US, with loyalty but
without subordination," she said in the interview in which she
explained, among other things, that she had been "too many times
the object of shameful sexist attacks, in the silence and
indifference of those who talk a lot about women's rights.
"I would say that I'm used to it by now but I don't want to say
it, because we must not get used to things like this.
"Not for me but because it is not right, it is not acceptable,
we must not resign ourselves to this barbarism".
"The latest fruit of these good relations" with Trump, she
stressed, is for example the US president's announcement that he
wants to restore Columbus Day, a holiday so dear to the
Italian-American community, which in recent years has suffered a
shameful ideological attack in the name of cancel culture. On
behalf of Italians, I thank the president of the United States
for this choice".
Meloni then defined the relationship with the president of the
European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as "a consolidated
collaboration and a relationship of esteem inspired by problem
solving and also by maximum frankness".
"When we have had different visions - she added -, as happened
recently when I strongly supported that investments in European
defense should not be limited to the issue of weapons but should
address the security of citizens in all its aspects, we have
asserted them with good results. This is what I try to do with
all international interlocutors. Now I believe we need a step
forward in the remodeling of the Green Deal, so that it no
longer represents a burden on the competitiveness of our
companies. These are issues that also emerged at the EPP
congress and on which we must work quickly".
On the relationship with the President of France Emmanuel
Macron, he instead stated: "We represent two great European
nations, friends and neighbors, with many common interests but
also healthy competition in many sectors. We also represent two
political families that have different cultural sensitivities.
Our relationships are the result of all these nuances, but also
of a habit that leads us to collaborate on many dossiers. As
perhaps you have understood, I have a very pragmatic approach in
international relations, I look at concrete results and in
several fields, Italy and France are allies".
Looking to the future, the prime minister assured her intention
to "fully implement the center-right program" in order to be
able to reintroduce herself to voters "by saying the most banal
thing on which politicians should be judged: we promised you, we
did it".
On the employment dossier, she reiterated that the government
has "found, together with Inail, an additional 650 million on
this issue, which added to the 600 million already planned for
this year, brings the available allocation to over 1.25 billion.
We will meet on May 8 with the social partners to discuss the
government's proposals and listen to those that will be
submitted to us", she added.
Among other things, Meloni expressed her disappointment at the
fact that in recent years, in order to hit her and this
government, "some unscrupulous people have had no qualms about
involving her family, her sister, the father of her daughter,
even her daughter. Almost always without reason, in a strategy
of banal character assassination".
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