Europe eyes Italy’s Meloni as potential ‘bridge’ to Trump

Few European leaders have managed to curry such favor with Donald Trump as Giorgia Meloni, and there is some expectation that the Italian leader can serve as a “diplomatic bridge” between the US and European Union, the BBC reported. Meloni — who has cultivated a “strategically ambiguous” ideological profile — has surprised her critics by developing warm relationships with more centrist European leaders, including President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. In turn, that ambiguity positions Meloni well to bring Trumpism to Europe as the continent shifts rightward anyway, a columnist argued in The New York Times. Still, Meloni “faces a balancing act,” The Economist wrote: Italy’s economic issues mean she can’t afford to alienate EU allies by leaning too much right.

Critics of the Italian prime minister — both at home and in Brussels — have argued that the mooted Starlink deal would make Rome overly reliant on Elon Musk, Politico reported: One progressive German member of the European Parliament wrote that the proposed deal “hands over Italian government, defense and military communication to an unpredictable proto-fascist.” Meloni’s apparent friendship with Musk is increasingly out of step with how other European leaders view the tech billionaire: German, French, and UK leaders have recently accused Musk of political meddling and even election interference.