Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

UKRAINE

Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Rome for talks with president and Pope Francis

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Rome on Saturday for meetings with Italy's political leaders and Pope Francis in his first visit to Italy since Russia's invasion.

Published: 13 May 2023 12:12 CEST

Volodymyr Zelensky

One of the cars from the motorcade of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky drives across Piazza Barberini. Zelensky arrived in Rome on May 13th for meetings with President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis in his first visit to Italy since Russia's invasion. Photo by: Andreas SOLARO / AFP

“Today in Rome,” tweeted Zelensky, following his arrival at the military base of Rome’s Ciampino Airport shortly before 9.30am local time, where he was met by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

“I’m meeting with President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni and the Pope. An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!”

Television images showed a long cortege of vehicles carrying the Ukrainian leader departing the airport, as security forces locked down large areas of the capital.

As Zelensky arrived in Rome, Germany announced a 2.7 billion euro weapons package for Kyiv including tanks, armoured vehicles and air-defence systems.

READ ALSO: Italy seeks to freeze assets of Russian who fled after arrest in Milan

Despite a history of warm ties with Moscow, NATO and EU member Italy has sent weapons and money to help Kyiv since Russia invaded in February 2022, and backed Western sanctions against Russia.

Still, the issue of sending weapons to Kyiv remains politically sensitive in Italy and the government has never disclosed exactly what it has provided.

Meloni, who visited Kyiv in February, hosted Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Rome last month, on the occasion of a conference on how Italian businesses could help rebuild the war-torn country.

It was not clear how long Zelensky would be in Rome, with speculation he could also be planning a trip to Germany this weekend.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

‘Worrying developments’: NGOs warn of growing pressure on Italian media freedom

They highlighted among their concerns the continued criminalisation of defamation – a law Meloni herself has used against a high-profile journalist – and the proposed takeover of a major news agency by a right-wing MP.

The two-day mission, led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), was planned for the autumn but brought forward due to “worrying developments”, Andreas Lamm of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) told a press conference.

The ECPMF’s monitoring project, which records incidents affecting media freedom such as legal action, editorial interference and physical attacks, recorded a spike in Italy’s numbers from 46 in 2022 to 80 in 2023.

There have been 49 so far this year.

Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, took office as head of a hard-right coalition government in October 2022.

A key concern of the NGOs is the increased political influence over the RAI public broadcaster, which triggered a strike by its journalists this month.

READ ALSO: Italy’s press freedom ranking drops amid fears of government ‘censorship’

“We know RAI was always politicised…but now we are at another level,” said Renate Schroeder, director of the Brussels-based EFJ.

The NGO representatives – who will write up a formal report in the coming weeks – recommended the appointment of fully independent directors to RAI, among other measures.

They also raised concerns about the failure of repeated Italian governments to decriminalise defamation, despite calls for reform by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Meloni herself successfully sued journalist Roberto Saviano last year for criticising her attitude to migrants.

“In a European democracy a prime minister does not respond to criticism by legally intimidating writers like Saviano,” said David Diaz-Jogeix of London-based Article 19.

He said that a proposed reform being debated in parliament, which would replace imprisonment with fines of up to 50,000 euros, “does not meet the bare minimum of international and European standards of freedom of expression”.

The experts also warned about the mooted takeover of the AGI news agency by a group owned by a member of parliament with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party – a proposal that also triggered journalist strikes.

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

Beatrice Chioccioli of the International Press Institute said it posed a “significant risk for the editorial independence” of the agency.

The so-called Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium expressed disappointment that no member of Meloni’s coalition responded to requests to meet with them.

They said that, as things stand, Italy is likely to be in breach of a new EU media freedom law, introduced partly because of fears of deteriorating standards in countries such as Hungary and Poland.

Schroeder said next month’s European Parliament elections could be a “turning point”, warning that an increase in power of the far-right across the bloc “will have an influence also on media freedom”.

Url copied to clipboard!