Politico: Meloni forced to justify her support for Ukraine to voters

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is facing the need to explain her consistent support for Ukraine to voters ahead of the upcoming 2027 parliamentary elections.

This is reported by Politico.

The issue of military and financial aid to Ukraine is generating increasing controversy in Italian society and is becoming a significant line of political division. The League party, which is part of the ruling coalition alongside Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, advocates a softer stance toward Russia and opposes increasing defense spending as well as continuing military support for Ukraine.

Opposition politician Roberto Vannacci, leader of the National Future party, is calling for an immediate halt to weapons deliveries to Ukraine and a softening of rhetoric toward Russia. His approach, according to Politico’s assessment, differs significantly from Meloni’s position.

The situation is compounded by public opinion: polls show the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party rating equal to Meloni’s bloc, while support for continued military aid to Ukraine remains low. Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has called for shifting to negotiations with Russia instead of new weapons deliveries.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, for his part, stressed the critical importance of Western support for Ukraine’s survival in the conflict. Within the ruling coalition, disagreements are intensifying both over the scale and nature of military assistance and over the question of Ukraine’s possible accession to the European Union.

In response to the growing criticism, Meloni has begun focusing more frequently on the topic of illegal migration, attempting to shift voters’ attention to domestic issues. Nevertheless, the issue of support for Ukraine remains one of the central themes in the pre-election contest and sets Meloni apart both from her political rivals and from her coalition partners.