Giorgia Meloni Visits Donald Trump; The Failure of Donald Tusk and Andrzej Duda

At the start of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union, the U.S. president-elect demonstrated that the political unity of the community is a fiction.

This is a kind of slight against the Polish president. Shortly after the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5, Andrezj Duda planned to visit Donald Trump at his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The media even received leaked information that the presidential plane was ready for immediate takeoff. Two months later, Duda is still waiting for Trump’s invitation. Meanwhile, Trump has already received the leaders of Argentina, Hungary and Canada.

It was convenience for Trump to meet with the Polish president during his campaign. It made him look more serious at a time when he faced charges connected with an attempted coup and for concealing an affair with a porn actress. But now that Trump has regained the White House, his contacts with Duda, who will fade into political obscurity in a few weeks, hold little value for him.

Trump Wants To Break the Unity of the EU, as He Did in His 1st Term

Trump’s meeting with Giorgia Meloni is also a failure for Donald Tusk. After all, the Polish prime minister wants to use the six-month EU presidency to develop Poland’s defense policy and make it an important geopolitical player, in particular on the issue of the war in Ukraine. The Polish Foreign Ministry even forged an idea to have Polish, French and German diplomats visit Mar-a-Lago together.

But Trump had other plans. During his first term, he supported Brexit, and now again he wants to undermine the unity of the EU, but instead of contacting EU officials, he is betting on the leader of a far-right Euro-skeptic party. The Italian prime minister will probably be his preferred partner when it comes to a trade war across the Atlantic, and perhaps also on Ukrainian affairs.

Finally, the Dream for Italy, an Eternal Political Underdog, Is Coming True

Meloni, on the other hand, is well aware of the dynamics in the White House, cozying up to perhaps the most important politician of the new administration, Elon Musk. Finally, the dream of Italy, the EU’s third-largest economy, to become a significant political player in Brussels is coming true. The Italian prime minister also hopes that under the new president, the U.S. will not interfere in her planned reconstruction of the state, including subjecting the media to increasing scrutiny and undermining judicial independence. This is an affront to Joe Biden, who is scheduled to visit Rome from Jan. 9-12. The outgoing president placed the rule of law high on his list of priorities.

But Italy’s new role is also the result of political paralysis in France and Germany, as well as the mood of anticipation before the presidential election in Poland. Meloni, at least for now, does not need to be concerned with maintaining power.