While Giorgia Meloni awaits the European Council in Brussels, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky flew by surprise to London to meet the British premier Rishi sunak e King Charles III, then, in the evening, in Paris for the meeting with the French president Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Italian premier, on the other hand, was not invited. And you only get a bilateral agreement with the Ukrainian president on the sidelines of the summit. Important meeting, certainly, but not the only one that the Ukrainian leader will hold in Brussels. In government circles it is minimized, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, denied that the tripartite meeting in Paris constitutes "an exclusion of Italy", but the oppositions - Pd and Third pole - can only point out the diplomatic rudeness , immediately inserted into the framework of relations with Paris which remain rather unstable.
And it is not the first time. About two weeks ago there was a call between the US president Biden, Macron and Sunak to "continue close coordination in efforts to support Ukraine". And only at the end - through the intervention of diplomacy - was Giorgia Meloni included in the conversation. The choices relating to Ukraine have always been characterized by a certain vagueness, too many hesitations, beyond the full support for Kiev always shown by Meloni, but always with the handbrake on so as not to grow discontent in the majority of her. And which translate into the umpteenth marginalization of Italy, still seen as the junior partner of the Paris-Berlin axis.
But it's not just Ukraine. Italy was also excluded from the trip to Washington by the German vice chancellor Robert Habeck and the French economy minister Bruno Le Maire for clarification on the American policy of containing inflation.
The train with Draghi, Macron and Scholz is just a memory
Only 8 months ago a famous photo immortalized the former prime minister Mario Draghi, just with Macron and Scholz, traveling to Kiev. To date, however, Meloni has never boarded that train. And you draw a very different image of Italy on the international scene. Especially on the political front of the war in Ukraine.
What is certain is that Zelensky hasn't stopped in Rome yet. And there is still no trace of Meloni's trip to Kiev, announced in recent weeks. In his missions, the Ukrainian president has been to Washington, London and Paris, meeting with the leaders of the countries he deems most reliable for his cause.
This is also demonstrated by the very cautious attitude on sending weapons, but also by Matteo Salvini's recent words on the intervention of Zelensky in San Remo: "I don't mind your absence", as the Ukrainian president has chosen to send only a letter.
“An increasingly isolated country in Europe”, denounced the president of the Econ commission in Brussels Irene Tinagli – and a prime minister “forced to follow events”, underlined the Action deputy Daniel Ruffino. The fact is that Italy has returned to the margins of a Europe that goes on even without our country and that sees the France-Germany axis strengthen.
