Meloni mends fences with Vance: 'Common values between EU and US'

Celebration' for the agreement between the EU, the US and Japan on critical minerals and for 'the solidity of the strategic relationship between Italia and the United States, founded on a historically rooted partnership', but also concern for Iran and hope for the other crises, from Venezuela to Ukraine, from Gaza to the Arctic. The meeting between Giorgia Meloni and US vice-president J.D. Vance lasted two and a half hours yesterday in Milan's prefecture before the start of the Olympic Games, in the presence of the vice-premier and head of the Farnesina, Antonio Tajani, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The atmosphere is relaxed, the smiles for the benefit of flashes. The echo of Donald Trump's new provocation - the video posted on Truth with Mr and Mrs Obama superimposed over monkey bodies, later attributed to a staff employee and removed - does not arrive here. "Common views on major global challenges, starting with energy security and the creation of secure and reliable supply chains for critical minerals," reads the Palazzo Chigi note circulated at the end of the talks, sealing first of all the agreement signed on Wednesday in Washington on rare earths and critical raw materials.

From Milan a fresh start is being made to mend the web of relations between Italia and the US, which has been frayed by the frictions of recent weeks on Greenland, on the Board of peace for the Strip and then on the contribution of European soldiers in Afghanistan minimised by Trump, who has never corrected himself. To complicate relations, in addition to the failed bilateral in Davos between Meloni and the tycoon, came the internal controversy over the presence of Ice investigators at the Olympics, a clamour that the premier has already branded as "surreal".

'We last met with the Vice-President in Rome for the inauguration of Pope Leo's papacy,' began Meloni, 'and today we meet again for the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics. They are two events that tell a system of values that hold Europe and the United States together, that hold the West together, which is obviously the basis of our cooperation, our friendship and the future we want to build together'. "It is good to meet you again and to be back in this beautiful country," Vance reciprocated. "We love Italia and Italians. We have so many great relationships, so many economic connections and partnerships."

Meloni's reference to common values is not accidental: it evokes the framework that is indispensable for Italia. But the talks serve to restore the bridge between Italia and the US, not to open new cracks. On the table are fears over the framework in Iran, on the day the US has asked its compatriots to leave the country immediately or "keep a low profile", also announcing new sanctions on Tehran's oil, and while in Oman talks between the parties for a five-point nuclear plan have been held.