Yoan Valat / EPA
“Italy and I never beg,” said Meloni
The relationship between Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump turned sour again during the G7 summit, with the Italian Prime Minister accusing the North American president of inventing a humiliating version of the meeting between them and members of the Rome Government classifying the statements as an insult to the country.
The disagreement between Donald Trump e Giorgia Meloni worsened dramatically this Friday, after the US president said that the Italian prime minister told him “begged” for a photograph at the G7 summit at the beginning of the week, says .
During a phone call with Italian media on Thursday night, Trump said Meloni was “probably happy because I talked to her. I didn’t have to do it.”
“She wanted a picture with me so bad” Trump added. “I wouldn’t have taken it away, but I felt sorry for her”.
The American president’s statements appeared to contradict the Italian prime minister’s recent insistence that her relationship with the American president remained as good as ever. But apparently, the time when .
In a combative video posted on social media, Meloni classified Trump’s statement as “completely invented”, adding that “Italy and I we never beg”.
Italy and I never beg.
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni)
The Italian ruler added that was “stunned” with the president’s statements and that, “although this won’t happen for the first time…it’s a shame that Trump do not show the same determination against the enemies of the West”.
The two leaders met several times during the G7 summit in Evian, for the first time since the public confrontation in April when the Italian prime minister classified it as, prompting the American president to say that Meloni “was no longer the same person” that he had known.
According to Politico, an Italian diplomat described the first one-on-one meeting between Meloni and Trump, on the sidelines of the G7 dinner on Monday night, as a “clarification meeting”.
On the sidelines of one of the G7 round tables, on Tuesday, the president of the European Council, Antonio Costajoked about the fact that the two seemed to be “again friendsTrump responded, “I was abandoned,” prompting laughter from Meloni, who said, “No, I wasn’t.”
During the final G7 press conference on Wednesday, Meloni assured journalists that considered the relationship with Trump “unchanged”.
“Donald Trump and I are two people with very strong personalitieswho defend their national interests. We don’t need to clarify things when we disagree on an issue, because, in the end, each of us understands the other’s point of view,” he said.
Other members of the Italian Government publicly defended the Prime Minister.
The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salviniin X that “whoever attacks Giorgia Meloni attacks us all”, while the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio TajaniTrump’s comments as “serious and offensive to all of Italy”, and canceled a visit to the US scheduled for Sunday.
The Minister of Defense, Guido Crosettoin the X that I couldn’t imagine Meloni asking someone for a photo, regretting the Trump’s “lack of style”.
