ROME, Mar 21 (Reuters): Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni finds herself playing a political balancing act as Europe moves to bolster its defences.
A nationalist with deep admiration for US President Donald Trump, she is battling to reconcile the growing gulf between her ideological instincts, which lie with Washington, and Italy's strategic ties to the European Union, analysts say.
Meloni was the only EU leader to attend Trump's inauguration in January and has carefully steered clear of any criticism of the US president, even as he has hit Europe with tariffs and threatened to abandon Ukraine in its war with Russia.
While she has taken part in emergency talks with European partners on how to navigate the upheavals caused by Trump's foreign policy, her engagement at times has seemed unenthusiastic, prompting critics at home to accuse her of isolating Italy within the EU.
Meloni, who has been in power since 2023, dismissed suggestions that she was under the sway of Trump as she headed into a summit of European leaders this week.
"I don't blindly follow either Europe or the United States ... I am in Europe because Italy is in Europe, so it's not like we're thinking of going somewhere else, but I also want the West to be compact," she told parliament.
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