American President Donald Trump had a kind word Tuesday for the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni, whom he judged to be “a good person, in fact”, in front of the press in Ankara, after acidic exchanges.
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“He’s a good person, actually,” replied the head of the White House in response to a question from the press before the opening of the NATO summit, which will bring together the two leaders on Tuesday evening and Wednesday.
“I like her,” “but I think she made a mistake,” he commented, emphasizing: “She just wasn’t there for us and I didn’t like it,” following Ms. Meloni’s refusal to join the American-Israeli attack on Iran.
After a heated argument last month on the subject, the American president reiterated his attacks on Sunday evening on his Truth Social platform by publishing a manipulated image showing the Italian Prime Minister, stunned in front of him, with the message, in capital letters: “Protection order requested”.
Rome refused to respond or comment.
Donald Trump had previously judged that Ms. Meloni “is doing poorly in Italy” and that she is “lacking popularity”, after having assured, a few days earlier, that the Italian far-right leader had “begged” him to take a photo with him, during a G7 summit a few days earlier.
Giorgia Meloni was, however, until recently one of his closest allies in Europe.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, who is to accompany Ms Meloni to Ankara, said on Monday that “the main thing is to preserve relations” transatlantic.
