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Unlikely allies? Italian PM Giuseppe Conte meets Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump receives Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday, welcoming to the White House a European populist with like-minded views on immigration and trade.

Published: 30 July 2018 08:51 CEST
Updated: 30 July 2018 10:00 CEST
Unlikely allies? Italian PM Giuseppe Conte meets Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump (L) and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Photos: Nicholas Kamm and Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The visit will begin with a one-on-one meeting followed by more extensive bilateral discussions, the White House said.

“Italy is an important NATO Ally, a leading partner in Afghanistan and Iraq, and key in bringing stability to the Mediterranean region,” the White House said in announcing the visit last month, the new prime minister's first.

Trump praised Conte as “great” after meeting him at the recent G7 summit in Canada, where they warmly shook hands during the family photo.

Conte is “very strong on immigration — like I am, by the way,” said Trump, who has pursued a policy of “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration, a crackdown that led to hundreds of children being separated from parents who crossed into the United States from Mexico without papers.

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Conte was chosen to lead the Italian government by the leaders of parties that won March elections: the euro skeptic Five Star Movement and the far-right League party. The Italian press has suggested the meeting will serve to boost Conte's profile, often overshadowed by his deputy prime ministers and those parties' exuberant leaders: Matteo Salvini of the League party, and Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement.

Conte wants to reform the Dublin Regulation, the EU law that says asylum requests should be the responsibility of a single member country, usually the one where the refugee first arrived.

Italy argues that the law places an unfair burden on countries that border the Mediterranean, and its new populist government has stepped up pressure on other EU countries to share responsibility for arriving refugees.

It has closed Italy's ports to migrants and turned back several ships carrying refugees rescued at sea, threatening the future of those operations.

Friend of Russia

Both Trump and Conte also favour better relations with Russia. Already deeply at odds with US allies on trade, the environment and Iran, opened another front in Canada by calling for Russia to be brought back into G7 meetings, ending its isolation over its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

“I think it would be good for Russia, I think it would be good for the United States, I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7,” Trump said.

Conte, who was making his international debut at the G7, said he agreed with Trump, setting himself apart from his European colleagues.

On trade, the two men share the same skepticism when it comes to free trade: Trump has blasted several international pacts such as NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), while Conte refused to ratify the CETA free trade agreement between the EU and Canada.

READ ALSO: Who is Giuseppe Conte, the political novice now Italy's populist PM?

Who is Giuseppe Conte, the political novice now Italy's populist PM?

Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

Missed target

But according to Nick Ottens of the Atlantic Council, Trump “may not find the ally he expects” in Conte.

On trade, the new Italian government's skepticism of multinational agreements risks Trump's goal of eliminating all EU customs tariffs, according to Ottens.

Meanwhile, in the defense realm, Italy has said it has no chance of reaching the target spending of two percent of GDP — let alone Trump's stated goal of four percent at the latest NATO summit.

In early July, Italy's defense minister Elisabetta Trenta announced a freeze on purchasing F-35 fighter aircraft, of which the US is the primary contractor.

Italy's participation in NATO operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria will be on both leaders' agendas, along with Italy's diplomatic efforts in Libya.

But a certain point of disagreement will be Trump's standoff with Iran — and the sanctions that hurt Italian-Iranian commercial relations.

By Sylvie Lanteaume

For members

POLITICS

How much control does Giorgia Meloni’s government have over Italian media?

There's been renewed debate over the state of press freedom in Italy following warnings that Meloni's administration is seeking "control" of Italy's media. But what's behind these reports?

Published: 9 April 2024 13:13 CEST
How much control does Giorgia Meloni's government have over Italian media?

Press freedom is at the centre of fresh debate in Italy this week after Spanish newspaper El País on Saturday published an article titled “Meloni wants all the media power in Italy.”

The report, which was picked up by Italian newspaper La Repubblica, suggests that the Italian prime minister and her right-wing executive is looking to “monopolise” national print and broadcast outlets

It follows reports in English-language media recently describing how Meloni is accused of trying to stamp her authority on Italian arts and media in what critics call a “purge” of dissenting voices.

Meloni and members of her administration have long faced accusations of trying to silence journalists and intimidate detractors. Media organisations say this often takes the form of high-profile politicians bringing lawsuits against individual journalists, and cite the defamation case brought by Meloni against anti-mafia reporter Roberto Saviano in 2023 as a prime example.

READ ALSO: Six things to know about the state of press freedom in Italy

Discussions over media independence aren’t new in Italy, as the country has consistently ranked poorly in the annual Press Freedom reports by Reporters without Borders in recent years. Italy came in 41st out of 180 in the 2023 ranking, which made it the worst country in western Europe for press freedom.

But what’s behind the recent allegations that the government is trying to exert a more direct influence?

Meloni, Porta a Porta

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Italian national TV show Porta a Porta in Rome on April 4th 2024. Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

National television

The article from El País accuses Meloni’s cabinet of effectively controlling Italy’s two biggest national broadcasters: state-owned RAI and commercial broadcaster Mediaset.

While Mediaset and its three main channels (Rete 4, Canale 5 and Italia 1) have long been seen as ‘loyal’ to Meloni’s executive – the network was founded by the late Silvio Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party continues to be a key member of the ruling coalition – the government’s ties with public broadcaster RAI are more complex.

Unlike state-owned broadcasters in other European countries, RAI is not controlled by a regulatory body but rather by the government itself, which means that the network has always been particularly susceptible to political influences. 

But Meloni’s cabinet is accused of exerting unprecedented power over the broadcaster following the replacement of former top executives with figures considered closer to the government.

Salvini, RAI

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini speaks with Italian journalist Bruno Vespa during the talk show Porta a Porta, broadcast on Italian channel Rai 1. Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Last May, Carlo Fuortes resigned as RAI’s CEO saying that he couldn’t possibly “accept changes opposed to RAI’s interests”. He was replaced by centrist Roberto Sergio, who in turn appointed Giampaolo Rossi – a “loyalist” of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party – as the network’s general director. 

Sergio and Rossi’s appointment was closely followed by a general management reshuffle which saw figures close to the government occupy key positions within the company. This led to critics and journalists dubbing the network ‘TeleMeloni’.

Print media 

Besides concerns over its sway on Italy’s main broadcast networks, Meloni’s executive is currently under heavy scrutiny following the rumoured takeover of Italy’s AGI news agency by the right-wing Angelucci publishing group. 

The group is headed by Antonio Angelucci, an MP for Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s hard-right League party, and owner of three right-wing newspapers: Il Giornale, Libero and Il Tempo.

News of the potential takeover from Angelucci sparked a series of strikes and demonstrations from the news agency’s journalists in recent weeks, with reporters raising concerns over the independence and autonomy of journalists in the event of an ownership change.

The leader of the centre-left Democratic Party Elly Schlein weighed in on the matter last week, saying that the sale of Italy’s second-largest news agency to a ruling coalition MP would be “inadmissible”.

Further debate over press freedom in the country emerged in early March after three journalists from the left-wing Domani newspaper were accused of illegally accessing and publishing private data regarding a number of high-profile people, including Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s girlfriend. 

The newspaper has so far condemned the investigation, saying it is “a warning to Domani and all journalists” and a further threat to media independence in a country ranked amongst the worst in Europe for press freedom.

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