Italy’s 13th Ukraine Aid Package Stalls Amid Coalition Rift
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MENAFNGiorgetti has yet to sign the freshly drafted package, even though Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani assured that he would, an Italian broadcaster reported. The delay points to lingering divisions among the government’s top figures.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto restated Rome’s commitment to Kyiv and urged Europe to hold a united line. Possible supplies include air defense components and Aster missiles.
The package is due before the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (COPASIR) later Tuesday, but procedure still requires Giorgetti’s signature first.
Tajani, who is also deputy prime minister, rejected suggestions of a government clash in remarks to state radio earlier in the day. “There’s no mystery, no storm, no conflict. Just the physical impossibility of signing,” Tajani said.
He said Giorgetti had been unable to sign because he was in Brussels on Monday, and that the economy minister backs the package. “as soon as he arrives in Rome, he will sign the document.”
A national news agency, citing government sources, reported that Giorgetti himself told Meloni in a Tuesday night phone call that a technical issue was the only obstacle: he was not in Rome.
Even so, League party leader Matteo Salvini, a coalition partner, signaled he wants his party to campaign for an end to the flow of money and weapons to Kyiv.
In a separate interview with an Italian daily, Crosetto argued for sustained support for Ukraine and warned that a pullback would also endanger Europe. “If an apartment four houses away from mine catches fire, I might even think it’s not my problem. But if I don’t notice the wind changing, suddenly, it could be my house that’s burning,” he said.
Last month, the same daily reported that the package was on hold while Meloni’s government waits for the result of next week’s US midterm elections. Approval has slipped repeatedly, from an expected July date to September, and then to after the League’s party congress on Oct. 24-25.
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