Overview
- Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told parliament she continues to support Ukraine politically, economically and militarily and endorsed the EU’s 20th package of sanctions on Russia.
- She proposed identifying one authoritative EU representative, mandated by all member states, to speak for Europe in any negotiations with Russia so that Europe negotiates key security guarantees itself.
- Meloni said Italy will present a defence and security figure of 2.8% of GDP at the upcoming NATO summit, an increase she said is driven largely by domestic security costs.
- The government will work with the European Commission to define a package of measures that can be financed using temporary budgetary flexibility to ease the national budget and support families and firms.
- Rome is pressing for a role in wider European coordination formats on Ukraine and urged caution about any fast-track EU accession for Ukraine that would disadvantage Western Balkan candidates while condemning attacks on UNIFIL and warning against unilateral moves in the Strait of Hormuz.