Italy’s Meloni pivots away from Trump as she looks to reset her premiership

 

Italy’s Meloni pivots away from Trump as she looks to reset her premiership

 

The speech comes after the government lost a referendum on justice reform that many considered a vote on the prime minister herself.

 

April 9, 2026 1:51 pm CET

By Jacopo Barigazzi

https://www.politico.eu/article/italys-giorgia-meloni-pivots-donald-trump-reset-premiership/

 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni distanced herself from U.S. President Donald Trump during a parliamentary address on Thursday, in a bid to save her premiership after a bruising referendum defeat last month.

 

"The West stands on two legs: the European and the American one. If they don’t move in the same direction, it risks paralysis," Meloni warned, adding that she continued "to believe in the need to work to ensure the unity of the West."

 

The speech comes after the government lost a referendum on justice reform that many considered a vote on Meloni herself. Her allies blame the defeat on rising energy prices caused by the war in Iran and on her friendship with Trump, who is increasingly seen as toxic even on the right.

 

The right-wing prime minister used her address to emphasize publicly her disagreements with the American leader for the first time since he was reelected in 2024.

 

"As is normal among allies, we must clearly say even when we do not agree," Meloni told parliament. She went on to list episodes where she claimed her government stood up to the White House, from tariffs "which we have many times defined as a wrong choice," to defending "the honor of our soldiers in Afghanistan, who had been defined as useless," and protecting Greenland's territorial integrity alongside European allies.

 

The Italian leader also described the war in Iran as "a military operation that Italy did not agree with and did not participate in ... a fact that emerged in all its concreteness with the Sigonella affair," she continued. She was referring — for the first time in a public statement — to Italy's recent decision to refuse permission for a U.S. military aircraft to land at the Sigonella ​air base in Sicily before flying to ‌the Middle East.

 

Thursday's remarks are a clear rhetorical pivot on her alliance with Trump — who is highly unpopular in Italy — when compared with softer positions earlier this year.

 

Meloni had described Trump's tariffs against the European countries that sent troops to Greenland as a "mistake," but also justified that decision as being caused by a "misunderstanding." She also supported the idea of giving Trump a Nobel Peace Prize.

 

But skyrocketing energy prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East are proving particularly politically dangerous.

 

A Bank of Italy report published on Friday revised down growth forecasts due to "exceptionally high uncertainty," implying that the war in Iran's impact on the Italian energy market and economy could lead to a recession.

 

These constraints make it harder for Meloni’s government to find the resources for its final pre-election budget next year and put money in voters’ pockets.

 

Against that backdrop, she used the speech to revive a proposal already floated by her ministers — and rejected by the Commission — for a temporary suspension of the Stability and Growth Pact if the conflict continues.

 

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said suspending the pact was the government’s "priority" and likened EU debt rules to a "straitjacket." European officials have also begun to signal openness to the proposal. France's European Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné said that the bloc would not rule out greater flexibility in light of the crisis.