Meloni calls for Europe to strengthen defence as US signals pullback

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni closed her party's annual Atreju rally on Sunday by defending her government's record and calling on Europe to strengthen its own defence capabilities in response to US President Donald Trump's shifting security strategy.

Speaking at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, Meloni said Trump had made clear that the US intends to disengage from Europe and that Europeans must organise their own defence.

"Trump has said most emphatically that the US intends to disengage and Europeans must organise to defend themselves: hello Europe," Meloni said.

"For eighty years we outsourced our security to the US pretending it was free, but there was a price to pay and that price is called conditioning. Freedom has a price."

Meloni's comments come amid tensions between the EU and the Trump administration.

She called for a stronger European defence structure capable of engaging with global powers on equal terms.

"We have spoken in unsuspected times of the need to strengthen our defence and security capacity and claimed when no one else did the need to finally create a European NATO norm of equal strength and respect to the American one," she said.

Government allies present united front

Before Meloni's speech, government allies and deputy prime ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, together with Maurizio Lupi, took the stage to assert the strength of their coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.

Tajani said the EPP and Conservatives must work together to protect Europe's industrial and agricultural identity. He expressed hope that the centre-right could overturn the EU's ban on non-electric cars.

The Forza Italia leader noted that Italy is the only EU country to have had the same foreign minister and prime minister since the beginning of the legislature.

Salvini pledged to begin construction on a bridge over the Strait of Messina, saying "the seaweed, bats and pigeons will not stop us."

Lupi reaffirmed the governing alliance, saying the coalition aims to govern for 10 years.

ECR pushes for 'Giorgia majority'

The multi-day event welcomed international guests, including former Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki, president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.

"Europe is going through a hell of cultural decay, with shame instead of pride," Morawiecki said.

ECR vice-president Marion Maréchal said the group has built an alternative majority in the European Parliament, which she called the "Giorgia" majority as an alternative to the "Ursula majority."

Atreju welcomed opposition figures including Five Star Movement president Giuseppe Conte, Italia Viva leader Matteo Renzi, Action secretary Carlo Calenda and Green Party deputy Angelo Bonelli. Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein declined to attend.

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was guest of honour on Friday. He said he hopes Italy will continue along the path of recognising a Palestinian state.

Abbas met Meloni earlier at Palazzo Chigi for an official visit.

Speaking on Sunday, Meloni thanked Abbas for his "courageous testimony" at Atreju.

The Fratelli d'Italia's annual political event was founded in 1998 by Meloni and her youth organisation. Its name comes from Atreju, the young warrior from the 1980s film The NeverEnding Story.