ROME — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni moved on Tuesday to contain a fresh dispute inside her governing coalition over military support for Ukraine, insisting that Rome's policy will not change after the economy minister delayed signing the latest aid decree.
The 13th military assistance package for Ukraine is held up by the missing signature of Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, a member of Matteo Salvini's League party. Giorgetti was in Brussels for meetings of eurozone and EU finance ministers and could not sign the classified document remotely.
Meloni, speaking in Bologna on Tuesday, rejected suggestions that the delay represented a policy breakdown, describing it as a temporary physical impediment and saying the minister would sign once he returned to Rome. "There is no question of a failed signature," she said.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto presented the package on Tuesday to COPASIR, parliament's intelligence and security oversight committee. The contents of the new package remain classified, but reports point to the inclusion of generators and components for air defence systems, potentially including Aster interceptor missiles used by the Franco-Italian SAMP/T surface-to-air missile system.
The delay has exposed differences within the coalition. Salvini's League has increasingly challenged the government's support for Kyiv, arguing that military assistance should be discontinued, and League Senator Claudio Borghi said the party was politically opposed to renewing the framework decree for military aid in 2027.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, leader of the Forza Italia party, rejected suggestions of a government clash, saying he and Crosetto had already signed the decree and that the Economy Ministry had cleared it. Tajani has reiterated that Italy will continue to provide support to Ukraine.
The legal framework underpinning Italy's military assistance expires at the end of 2026, and Crosetto is due to propose extending the decree-based mechanism into next year. Approval of the 13th package has slipped repeatedly, from an expected July date to September and then to after the League's party congress in late October.
The dispute comes at a sensitive moment for European security, as Russia's war against Ukraine continues, European governments debate how to sustain military assistance, and US-mediated talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States continue in Abu Dhabi.
