US elections: how the Italian parties stand between Trump and Harris
League pro Trump, Pd pro Harris. Meloni and Tajani cautious, Conte does not decide
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Key points
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The US presidential elections, with the confrontation between Donald Trump (Republicans) and Kamala Harris (Democrats) are approaching. The Italian parties have already started to take sides: Lega pro Trump, Pd pro Harris. But there are other positions that have caused controversy: if on the one hand one can imagine the cautious line taken by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (who was pro-Trump in 2020) and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who have not exposed themselves, the centre-left has been split by M5S leader Giuseppe Conte's decision not to take an open stance in favour of Harris.
Meloni and his cautious stance
.For Giorgia Meloni it is light years away from 2020, when (from the opposition) during the counting of the previous US elections that saw Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden facing off, she had no doubts: 'As an Italian patriot, I hope Trump wins. On her recent trip to the US at the end of September, as Italian premier she was careful not to take sides between Trump and Kamala Harris (vice-president of current US president Joe Biden). Responding on the sympathies of Elon Musk (the patron of Tesla and X, as well as Trump's sponsor) towards her, Meloni clarified: 'It has nothing to do with the American campaign. It seems to me that the attempt to deploy Italy is above all an Italian attempt'.
Forza Italia's cautious line
.A prudent line, Meloni's, also confirmed by Fi leader and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who claimed her 'line of balance': 'We are preparing to work with Trump or Harris with the same intensity'. However, he had already said in 2020: 'I would not vote' if I had to choose between Trump and Biden.
Salvini's position on Trump
.Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, did not change his pro-Trump line: 'I work well with whoever is in the administration in Washington and in the United States. I am convinced that a victory for Trump and the Republicans would be fundamental and positive for a return to balance in the entire West and for an end to the two dramatic conflicts that we are experiencing.
Pd in favour of Kamala Harris
In the centre-left, the PD (which not coincidentally takes the US Democratic Party in its name) is strongly in favour of Kamala Harris. "Trump represents a threat, the challenge concerns us, we don't have to agree on everything to know which side to be on, that is that of the democrats, of Harris," said Pd secretary Elly Schlein.
