Italy's Meloni Gets Carte Blanche To Pursue Independent Foreign Policy - Politician

ST.PETERSBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2022) Italian voters have given Brothers of Italy party leader Giorgia Meloni a free hand to decide on an appropriate foreign policy that would take back power from Brussels and Washington, Veneto councilor Stefano Valdegamberi told Sputnik on Tuesday.

The conservative leader began coalition talks on Tuesday with the right-wing League of Matteo Salvini and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia after their bloc won a decisive victory in Sunday's elections.

"Meloni has the opportunity to demonstrate that she is a great leader of the country, to give back to Italy the role of a mediator in the conflict instead of the role of a silent executor of the orders received from the European Union and the United States," Valdegamberi said.

The former lawmaker for the northern Veneto region suggested that Meloni's voters expected her to stop the "irresponsible practice" of allowing Italy to be governed from abroad.

In her recent interviews, the 45-year-old toned down her anti-EU rhetoric. She has positioned herself as pro-NATO and pro-Ukraine and has backed sanctions against Russia.

Valdegamberi said he hoped this was meant to overcome "international prejudice" against her party. He claimed that a large portion of her voters were ambivalent about Russia and wanted harmful sanctions to end.

"Otherwise, her electoral base will distance itself from the leader. I believe that the wager on the effectiveness of the new government is played on foreign policy," he said.

The official insisted that sanctions on Russian goods were disproportionately affecting Italy, the European Union's third largest economy, which depends heavily on production and imported raw materials.

"Without a change of course I see no solution to the problem. Let's see if the new government will have the courage to do so or if it will surrender once again to outside pressure," Valdegamberi said.