Meloni continues to balance the attack on Iran: “I do not condemn it nor do I share it”
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, is among the European leaders who are suffering the most in their internal politics from the Iran crisis, for having always boasted of being Donald Trump’s best friend, and this forces her to strike increasingly complicated balances. On Sunday night he defined his undefined position on the attack in a television interview: “I do not condemn it nor do I share it because I do not have the necessary elements, as almost no one in Europe does, in fact, no one, to adopt a position that is categorical. Aside from Sánchez, no one has condemned the initiative, just as no one is participating in the conflict.” She has been harshly criticized by the opposition, for whom she seems like “just someone passing by” and has no opinion.
The far-right leader has also not weighed in on whether the US and Israeli offensive has violated international law, as her Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, has admitted. Meloni has supported it, but has spoken about it in a generic way, without saying who would be responsible: “I think we have to face a situation in which the rules of international law have objectively been broken.” What’s more, he has attributed responsibility to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a breach of the rules that would have triggered others.
Meloni is experiencing the most difficult moments since he came to the Government in October 2022. His friendship with Trump has become very uncomfortable with the attack on Iran, since the war is very unpopular in Italy and it is not perceived what advantage the country is getting from that privileged relationship. In addition, there are more than 100,000 Italians in the Middle East affected by the attacks, and a sharp rise in electricity and gas bills is coming, already among the highest bills in Europe, and in inflation, which will affect a very stagnant economy. On the other hand, war can hit Italy at any moment: it is an Italian who heads UNIFIL, the UN blue helmets in Lebanon, right now in the middle of the crossfire of Hezbollah and Israel, and with 1,200 Italian soldiers. Additionally, there are another 321 at a base in Kuwait.
But the worst thing is that Meloni has an important referendum in sight, on March 22 and 23, which he has sold as one of the great reforms of his Government, and in reality one of the few that he has proposed. This is a change in the organization of the judiciary, with clear overtones of political war, which is also already becoming a vote with or against the Government, regardless of the issue in question. The war has come at the worst moment for Meloni, who fears facing defeat at the polls one year before the next general elections, when until now the polls were for her a raft of oil where she has barely suffered wear and tear. Furthermore, her two Government partners, Forza Italia and La Liga, are much more clearly involved in this war than she is and do not entirely share her line. Meloni has to hurry up to give convincing explanations and will appear in Parliament this Wednesday. He brought it forward a week, because initially he was not planning to do it until the 18th, but he realized that perhaps it was hiding too much.
