Meloni flies to Florida: Meeting with Trump in the shadow of the crisis!

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni plans a visit to the future US President Donald Trump. The visit is scheduled for Saturday evening at 7.30 p.m. local time (1.30 a.m. CET Sunday) in the US state of Florida. Trump has mainly stayed in his estate Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach since his election victory in November. An official confirmation for the meeting is still pending.

Meloni, the chair of the Fratelli d’Italia right-wing party, maintains close relationships with the Trump camp and also has a friendly relationship with Elon Musk, who advises Trump. Trump will swear again in the White House on January 20. The outgoing President Joe Biden will be expected in Rome next week and will have meetings with Pope Francis and Meloni there. Meloni has been running a coalition of three right -wing parties in Rome for two years and had held the G7 until the turn of the year.

background of the visit

Melonis' visit to Florida is considered in a context in which it is confronted with a foreign policy challenge. This concerns the arrest of the Italian reporter Cecilia Sala in Iran on December 19, while working with a regular journalist visa. Sala was arrested three days after the Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini was arrested at Malpensa Airport in Milan. Abedini was arrested on the basis of a US arrest warrant because he is accused of delivering drone parts that were used in an attack in 2023, in which three US soldiers were killed in Jordan. Iran has held a participation in this attack.

Trump's spokesman Steven Cheung said that it was no surprise that world leaders have contacted Trump's historical victory to develop better relationships with the United States. Meloni's office did not immediately comment on the media reports about the planned meeting. On Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry appointed the Italian ambassador to talk about Abedini's arrest. An Iranian Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs asked Italy to reject the "hostage policy" of the United States and enable Abedini's release to avoid damage to bilateral relationships. Abedini is in prison, and a court will later decide this month whether house arrest will be granted to him while the judges examine the US delivery application. According to reports of Italian media, Sala is housed in a cold cell with constantly switched on neon light in a cold cell, its glasses have been confiscated and it has hardly any contact with the outside world.