Giorgia Meloni

Italy's right-wing government on Tuesday declared a six-month national state of emergency to help it cope with a surge in migrants arriving on the country's southern shores.

State TV said a special commissioner was expected to be named. Initial funding of 5 million euros (nearly $5.5 million) was also approved as part of the measure approved by Premier Giorgia Meloni and her Cabinet.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vui, speaks from Verona, where he discussed all current topics, after today's meeting with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni.
He said that the meeting with Giorgia Meloni was fundamentally good and that he expects her before the end of the year in Belgrade.

But a police raid on our newsroom was not exactly what I was expecting. None of my colleagues were. 

A 'surreal' raid

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends an EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET

Amid the fallout from the Ukraine conflict and recent financial turmoil, Greece arrived at Thursday's regular European Council meeting in Brussels hoping to have a discussion on the new framework for fiscal policy conduct at the level of heads of state.

Now is the right time for electricity market reform and for more long-term planning, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the European Council meeting on Thursday, according to government sources.

An Israeli-backed Cypriot fund's deal to buy a Lukoil-owned refinery in Italy is hanging in the balance ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Rome possibly this week, when veto powers would be weighed against energy hub aspirations that could replace Russian gas and put the final nail in the coffin of a proposed EastMed pipeline.

Italy's far-right government has given the green light to a Holocaust museum in Rome, where nearly 2,000 Jews were rounded up during World War II and sent to concentration camps.

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni was named Italian prime minister on Oct. 21, becoming the first woman to head a government in Italy.

The conservative bloc includes Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, Matteo Salvini’s League & Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte squeaked through a crucial Senate confidence vote on Jan. 19 night, allowing him to keep his wobbly coalition afloat but failing to secure the reliable support needed from lawmakers to help him effectively govern the country with its pandemic-pummeled economy.