French President Emmanuel Macron, on an official visit to Italy, spoke Sunday evening in Rome with Giorgia Meloni, the President of the Italian Council, reports the Elysee, confirming information from BFMTV.

The French head of state began a two-day visit to Rome on Sunday, October 23, where he notably spoke to the Sant'Egidio community on the war in Ukraine.

He will be received Monday morning in private audience by Pope Francis.

Emmanuel Macron promised to work with Giorgia Meloni with "dialogue and ambition", a few minutes after his first meeting with the new Italian Prime Minister.

This is Giorgia Meloni's first head-to-head with a foreign leader.

At the end of an exchange of about an hour and fifteen minutes, according to the Élysée, Emmanuel Macron marked, with a tweet, his desire to "succeed together, with dialogue and ambition".

"As Europeans, in neighboring countries, as friendly peoples, with Italy we must continue all the work started," he wrote, above a photo of the interview.

"To succeed together, with dialogue and ambition, we owe it to our youth and to our peoples. Our first meeting in Rome, @GiorgiaMeloni, goes in this direction", he adds.

Franco-Italian relations, in good shape as long as Mario Draghi ruled the Peninsula, risk going through a zone of turbulence with the eurosceptic and sovereignist Meloni.

But Emmanuel Macron had assured Friday to be "completely ready to work with her".

On Sunday morning, Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank, highly regarded internationally, had passed the torch to Giorgia Meloni under the gold of Palazzo Chigi, the seat of government in Rome.

A century after Benito Mussolini came to power, this ex-admirer of the Duce has thus taken the head of the most right-wing government in the country since the birth of the Republic in 1946.

Debt and inflation

On Saturday, the EU, worried about the coming to power of the far right in Italy, the founding country of Europe, said it was ready to "cooperate" with the Meloni government.

The 45-year-old Roman, who won a historic victory in the September 25 legislative elections, managed to make her Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party respectable to gain power at the head of a government of 24 ministers - including only six women.

She has with her coalition partners - the populist anti-migrant leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, and the declining leader of Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi - an absolute majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Many challenges await, mainly economic, starting with inflation and the debt whose ratio is the highest in the euro zone after Greece.

The composition of the new government reflects the desire to reassure Rome's partners.

Former President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani was appointed to Foreign Affairs, with the title of Deputy Prime Minister, while Giancarlo Giorgetti, a representative of the moderate wing of the League, already a minister in the outgoing government of Mario Draghi inherits the Economy portfolio.

"You are not alone"

Giorgia Meloni's task promises to be the toughest as her coalition is already showing cracks.

On Sunday, she also called on her government to "stay united" after the first council of ministers, against a backdrop of tensions with Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini.

The latter are reluctant to accept the authority of Giorgia Meloni, whose party won 26% of the vote in the elections, against 8% for Forza Italia and 9% for the League.

Herself an Atlanticist and favorable to support for Ukraine against Russia, Giorgia Meloni had to face this week the controversial remarks of Silvio Berlusconi, who claimed to have "reconnected" with Russian President Vladimir Putin and imputed responsibility to kyiv of the war.

Giorgia Meloni corrected the situation by affirming that Italy is "fully part and with its head held high" of Europe and NATO.

A message well received in Washington, kyiv and NATO, whose Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg sent his "congratulations" to Giorgia Meloni.

US President Joe Biden said on Saturday he was "looking forward" to working with her.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "looking forward to continuing the fruitful cooperation" with Rome.

"You are not alone!"

replied Giorgia Meloni: "Italy will always be at the side of the courageous Ukrainian people who are fighting for their freedom and a legitimate peace". 

With AFP and Reuters

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