NATO chief talks defence with Italian prime minister in Rome

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited Italy on Tuesday, where he met with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella to discuss defence and support for Ukraine.

In July 2025, Italy will host the next conference on the reconstruction of the country ravaged by more than two years of conflict with Russia.

Since taking up his post a few months ago, Rutte has sought to strengthen Western support for Ukraine.

“On Ukraine, we are establishing a new command, NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine, which will become fully operational in the coming months, and we are well on our way to fulfilling our pledge to provide Ukraine with €40 billion of military support in 2024. We will continue to stand by Ukraine because Ukraine’s fight is our fight,” said the head of NATO.

Giorgia Meloni, for her part, is calling for greater involvement of European countries in NATO.

“As you all know, we think it is necessary that next to the North American pillar of the alliance there should be a European pillar. It is a vision we share with the new (NATO) Secretary-General, and we share that it is essential for all of us to work on a European defense industry that’s innovative, competitive, where NATO and the European Union could complement each other,” declared the head of the Italian government.

At a time when Ukrainian troops are in trouble, NATO countries are divided over the aid to be given to Kyiv. Italy, for example, is opposed to Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles against targets on Russian soil.

Germany is not in favour either. During their meeting in Berlin, the head of NATO and Olaf Scholz addressed another subject of concern: the involvement of the United States in the Alliance in the event of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.