Italy: Meloni to attend Trump inauguration

Rome: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president in Washington on January 20, her office said on Saturday.

Far-right Meloni has positioned herself as the closest mainstream European leader to Trump and is believed to be the only one going to the swearing-in.

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The prime minister’s attendance was confirmed in the weekly agenda released by her office.

Foreign leaders by tradition do not attend US inaugurations but Meloni said earlier this month she was invited — a gesture seen by Italian sources as a sign of the “great respect” Trump has for her and Italy.

Meloni and Trump do not know each other well but share hard-right values and have met twice since Trump’s re-election in November.

She visited his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he hailed her as a “fantastic woman.”

Her post-Fascist Brothers of Italy party has long had ties with Steve Bannon, one of the masterminds behind Trump’s initial 2016 ascension to the presidency.

And Meloni is friendly with tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally.

As such, some in Meloni’s circle have speculated she could act as a “bridge” between the White House and Brussels.

The European Union’s institutional leaders have struggled to get face time with Trump and his incoming team.

Trump has invited several far-right European politicians to the inauguration, including France’s Eric Zemmour and two senior figures from Germany’s AfD party.

British hard-right politician Nigel Farage is also attending but Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, who was also invited, has said he will not be there.