“We do not have F16 so we can hardly participate in the project: there is talk of a possible training of Ukrainian pilots, a decision that we have not yet taken and that we are evaluating with the allies”. Giorgia Meloni, speaking from the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, did not exclude any path regarding the US decision to give the green light to the training of Ukrainian pilots. The prime minister, among other things, also had bilateral agreements with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Who then released a video together with the leader on Telegram, accompanied by a message that speaks precisely of air defense: “It is important to continue the dialogue between Ukraine and Italy on bilateral relations”, she said. “The parties discussed Italy’s political and defense support for Ukraine and the first results of the visit to Italy on 13 May. We need to improve our air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots.”
During the press conference, the prime minister, in addition to announcing her early return to go to Romagna where a serious flood emergency has been underway for days, also reiterated Italy’s position on the war. “Ukraine knows it can count on Italy’s all-round support,” she said. “In these two days we have brought our point of view”. And you, speaking of the meetings between the leaders of these days, you said: “We talked about the mistakes of the past, about how to set up relations with the global South and how to overcome the narrative of the West against the worldor. We talked about artificial intelligence, a theme linked to democracy: the risk we run is a society in which progress replaces human capabilities, telecracies”. “I think we have to continue doing our job by continuing to support Ukraine, for what we can do but the Ukrainians are doing the bulk of the work”, he declared, underlining that “if we had followed that propaganda” according to which ‘it was a battle lost’, “if we had abandoned Ukraine to the invasion, now we would see the world in chaos”.
During the press conference Meloni also answered questions about Chinese. “Italy is the only G7 nation to have signed the Memorandum” with Beijing on the Silk Road, he said, “but it is not the European or Western country that has the closest relations with China. Which means that you can have good relations with China without being part of a strategic plan”. And he added: “I think we need to have a dialogue with China without making the mistake of closing off but not even the mistake of not being masters of one’s choices and one’s destiny and of what can happen”. The one on the memorandum on the Silk Road “is a delicate assessment, which entails consequences, on which it is necessary involve various actors of our national system, it is not an assessment that I can make on my own. We need to make a very weighted assessment ”. Meloni also specified that he had “received no pressure, the issue was never mentioned”.
Finally, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced from Hiroshima that the G7 2024 led by Italy will be held in the second half of June, “after the European vote” scheduled for 9-10, and that the venue will be Puglia.