Meloni meets Merz, takes a swipe at Macron: "No to personalisms that undermine the unity of the West"

"It is necessary to abandon a little the personalisms that risk undermining the unity of the West, which is fundamental to resolving the conflict" between Russia and Ukraine. This is how Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in statements to the press together with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz , commented, answering reporters' questions, on yesterday's words by Emmanuel Macron , on the fact that in the meeting of the willing in Tirana there was no talk of sending troops.

And on this Meloni cuts short: "I note that sending troops to Ukraine is no longer a topic" under discussion, I have expressed doubts several times about the effectiveness of an initiative of this type", the priority "is to reach an unconditional ceasefire", the prime minister reiterates.

On the meeting with the German Chancellor, she explains: "I am very happy to have welcomed Chancellor Merz . We come from the work of the CPE, where we had the opportunity to exchange initial opinions that we explored in depth in the bilateral meeting. It was a very open, cordial, operational, concrete meeting that I believe represents the most effective denial of an alleged lack of interest of the new German government in the relationship with Italy. The solidity and depth of our relations are impossible to question", adds the Prime Minister during the statements to the press together with Friedrich Merz after their face to face. In this way, the Prime Minister in the press briefing tries to quell the controversy after the controversy over the exclusion of Italy from Germany's strategic partners at the behest of the SPD, later denied by the Social Democrats.

The relationship between Italy and Germany "is in the reality of things, regardless of the times we are going through. We are friendly nations, we are allied nations, we are nations united also by deep historical and cultural ties, protagonists of European dynamics, founders of the European Union and obviously on the same side in all multilateral and international forums", said the Prime Minister. "We are also the two main manufacturing economies in Europe, as we know, and our production systems over the years have been increasingly interconnected with each other, so our destinies are obviously very linked. We are fundamental partners for each other, with an exchange that in 2024 exceeded 150 billion euros, and therefore it is very quickly understood that if Italy and Germany work together it is certainly good news for our people but it is also good news for Europe as a whole", concluded the Prime Minister.