By Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of the European leaders closest to Donald Trump, said on Thursday she believed the U.S. president-elect would defend Western interests once he took office and would not abandon Ukraine.
Meloni flew to Florida last weekend for unannounced talks with Trump, winning praise from the incoming president, who called her “a fantastic woman”.
Addressing a press conference in Rome, Meloni said she had received an invitation to Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration and was keen to fit it into her schedule.
“If I can, I will happily go,” she told reporters.
Meloni’s supporters hope the conservative leader will have privileged access to Trump over the next four years and become a bridge between Washington and Europe.
She used Thursday’s two-hour news conference to allay concerns that Trump might break with Washington’s traditional European allies as he…
