(Adnkronos) – Europe and the United States need each other, the US is a “key” ally of Italy’s and the government has “excellent” relations with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on the eve of Rubio’s talks in Rome on Friday with premier Giorgia Meloni and with Tajani.
“The US is an important ally of ours and we have excellent relations with the Secretary of State,” Tajani told journalists on the sidelines of an expanded EU Med Group meeting at the foreign ministry on Thursday.
At the meeting, Tajani unveiled a new food and fertilisers coalition to tackle the pressing global issue of food security and availability of fertilisers triggered by the US-Israel war against Iran and its closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway.
Tajani said he would discuss the new coalition with Rubio “and of course the international situation and bilateral ties”.
“The US is a key ally and we strongly believe in transatlantic relations,” Tajani underlined.
“If there are points on which we disagree, we say so. But this doesn’t mean that disagreeing on certain issues undermines the transatlantic alliance, because Europe needs the US, but it is equally true that the US needs Europe,” Tajani concluded.
Rubio’s two day trip to Rome is aimed at repairing strained relations between US president Donald Trump and Meloni over the Iran war, defence and trade and a tackling crisis with the Vatican after Trump, launched a series of attacks against Leo on Truth Social, branding him “weak” and “terrible for foreign policy” and most recently, accusing him of “endangering a lot of Catholics”.
Tajani and Meloni have deplored Trump’s slights against the pontiff , calling the remarks “unacceptable”.
A meeting between Leo and Rubio on Thursday highlighted “the need to work tirelessly for peace,” the Vatican said after the 45-minute audience.
“Met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” Rubio – a Catholic – wrote on X.
