Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit Brussels on Thursday, 3 November, where she will meet several European leaders. This will be her first official visit outside Italy
The Commission spokesperson confirmed that she will meet, among others, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. Meloni will also speak to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Mezzola.
Meloni's party won 26 percent of the vote in the parliamentary elections at the end of September. Meloni is in a coalition with the far-right Lega led by Matteo Salvini and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Forza Italia.
The new government is on paper the most right-wing and Eurosceptic government in Italy since 1946.
But Meloni stressed during her government's statement in the Italian Parliament that Italy is firmly rooted in the European Union and NATO. According to her, the goal is not to sabotage European integration, but to "make the machine of society work better".
She said Italy would stick to European rules, although Meloni hoped to change a number of rules "that don't work".
The Italian prime minister is then scheduled to travel to attend the climate summit in Egypt on November 7-8 and the G20 summit in Indonesia on November 15-16.