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Meloni and other far-right leaders invited to Trump's inauguration/ Analysts: Prime Minister, the main US liaison with Europe
2025-01-19 13:34:15 / BOTA
Meloni's participation in the ceremony held on Monday in Washington, DC was confirmed by her office and is seen as a further strengthening of relations with the US president-elect.
The Italian leader paid a quick visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida earlier this month, during which Trump described her as "a fantastic woman" who is "amazing Europe."
The pair first met in Paris in early December for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. Meloni, who leads the neo-fascist Brothers of Italy party, has long been a Trump supporter. Before he came to power in October 2022, she regularly traveled to his political rallies and praised his policies as a model for Italy.
She also showed astuteness in building good relations with Joe Biden and strengthening Italy’s Atlantic credentials, says The Guardian . During a recent press conference, she said she had a “very strong relationship” with Trump and an “excellent relationship” with Biden. “ But having two conservative leaders could further strengthen convergence. It’s an added value for Italy and the EU ,” she said.
Observers have said shared views on issues ranging from immigration to abortion, coupled with Meloni's strong relationship with Trump's billionaire ally Elon Musk, could result in her becoming his main liaison in Europe.
Trump broke tradition by inviting several foreign leaders to his inauguration ceremony, which will be held inside the Capitol due to low temperatures.
From Europe, Meloni will be joined by Zemmour, an ultranationalist and xenophobic polemicist known for his condemnations of hate speech and as an exponent of the far-right theory of the "great replacement", as well as Tom Van Grieken of Belgium's far-right party Vlaams Belang and Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland's national conservative party Law and Justice (PiS).
The participation of Tino Chrupalla, one of the co-leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), was confirmed by the party on Thursday. The invitation followed Musk's endorsement of the party and a discussion with co-leader Alice Weidel on his social media platform, X, which raised further concerns about his ambition to influence European politics.
Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's anti-immigration Reform party, will also be in attendance. Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, another Trump supporter, was invited but will not attend, while Argentina's populist leader Javier Milli, who visited Rome in December for the annual festival organized by the Brothers of Italy, will be in attendance.
During the latest press conference, Meloni defended both Trump and Musk. Asked about Trump's comments on Greenland and the Panama Canal, Meloni said she believed they were intended as messages to other global powers, rather than hostile claims against the two countries.
In response to Musk's attacks on several European leaders, notably British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Meloni rejected the suggestion that his comments constituted "dangerous interference."
" The problem arises when wealthy people use their resources to fund political parties, associations and exponents around the world to influence the political elections of nation states ," Meloni said. " That's not what Musk is doing ," she added.
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