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Written by Piero Messina for SouthFront
What will be Italy’s political position at the next Paris summit on Ukraine? It is now impossible to make predictions, because Italy’s international projection has become an eternal pirouette. For Giorgia Meloni, Italian Prime Minister, it is impossible to say no to British Prime Minister Starmer and French President Macron. At the Paris summit, the European position regarding the peace negotiations initiated by US President Trump will be discussed. It will be yet another unconditional support for Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky.
But the feeling is that Giorgia Meloni will have to curb the warmongering impetus of her colleagues ready to make Ukraine fight until the last soldier. After all, Europe is trying to rearm itself in an anti-Russian key with the 800 billion ReARM Europe plan. Italy is a country with limited sovereignty and Prime Minister Meloni certainly knows Henry Kissinger’s aphorism: “being an enemy of the States is dangerous, being a friend of the States could also be lethal”.
It is therefore necessary to change the political narrative of a government that until Donald Trump took office at the White House was – in words, but also with significant military equipment – the most staunch supporter of military support for the Kiev government. A position – the one chosen at the time by the Italian government – taken not for geostrategic or national security reasons, but to be aligned with the doctrine imposed by the then President of the United States, Joe Biden. Some might argue that it also takes a certain style to be servile. But in this case Italy represents the exception, due to a political class accustomed – at least since the end of the Second World War – to” rushing to the aid of the winner”. The winner, today, in March 2025, certainly does not have the physiognomy of Volodymir Zelensky. For Giorgia Meloni, therefore, a change of narrative was necessary. Even at the cost of erasing the truth of previous statements.
“It was said that I spoke of victory, with respect to the war in Ukraine. I don’t think I ever used the word victory with respect to the war in Ukraine.”
These are the words used by Giorgia Meloni, in Montecitorio, the seat of the Italian parliament, during the debate on the next Council of Paris. It is a small, understandable, lie. Because the word “victory” – linked to the outcome of the war in Ukraine – has been pronounced by the Italian Prime Minister several times. Giorgia Meloni was in Palazzo Chigi – the seat of the Italian Prime Minister – next to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on May 13, two years ago:
“We are betting on the victory of Ukraine,” were her words.
“Italy will stand by Ukraine until victory,” Meloni declared on February 21, 2023 at a press conference in Kiev, alongside Volodymyr Zelensky.
On February 24, 2023, on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, she reiterated the concept:
“We cannot allow Ukraine to lose this war, Kyiv’s victory is fundamental for European security.”
Clear, unequivocal words, which at the time served to reassure the allies of the time and consolidate Italy’s position on the international stage. A commitment that left no room for ambiguity, reinforced by official statements and bilateral meetings. But politics has a short memory and coherence is often sacrificed on the altar of convenience.
Now, however, Meloni is slowing down, downplaying and even denying having ever spoken in those terms. The dynamic is the usual one: denying the evidence, overturning the narrative, relying on the public’s short memory and the willingness of the Italian media to dilute the problem. It is not a new strategy, but rather a constant in Meloni’s management of power. On the war in Ukraine, however, the game is getting more complicated: because if a year ago the absolute determination to support Kiev was functional to building a solid and coherent international profile, today reality imposes a more ambiguous strategy. There is a deeper problem in this continuous recalibration of reality: credibility. Because if today one can deny having ever spoken of a Ukrainian victory, tomorrow one can deny any other promise. And in politics, when the past becomes an opinion, the present becomes an unknown. And an unknown, as we know, does not govern for long.
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