Right-wing populism in Italy

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni had a telephone conversation with newly elected United States President Donald Trump yesterday, Wednesday night.

According to a statement from the Italian government, “the conversation was an opportunity to reaffirm the firm alliance, strategic cooperation and the historic and deep friendship that have always linked Rome and Washington.”

An Italian navy ship has set sail for Albania carrying a second small group of migrants, with Rome looking to salvage a controversial plan to process asylum seekers abroad after a first attempt hit legal hurdles.

A top European Union official on Wednesday refused to be drawn on an opinion of an agreement between Italy and Albania to process some migrants in centers set up in the tiny Western Balkan country, saying only that it was being closely monitored.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday to visit Italy in the first half of 2025 for a new session of the Italy-Türkiye Intergovernmental Summit.

Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto (L) welcomes US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin prior to the Group of Seven (G7) Defence Ministers Summit at the Palazzo Reale in Naples, Italy, on Oct. 19, 2024.

G7 defense ministers started talks on Saturday against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting.

A Rome court has rejected orders to detain a group of migrants in a reception facility in Albania and said they had a right to be brought to Italy, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's plan to divert asylum-seekers abroad.

As Italy dispatched a first group of asylum seekers to Albania on Wednesday under a new deal between Rome and Tirana, one eatery in the port town where they arrived found cause for celebration.

A group of migrants, intercepted in Italian waters, disembark at Shengjin port in Albania on Oct. 16, 2024.

A navy boat carrying migrants intercepted in Italian waters docked at Shengjin port in Albania Wednesday, AFP reported, the first arrivals under a new deal between Rome and Tirana.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday hailed a controversial deal to send migrants for processing in Albania as "courageous," saying Rome was setting a "good example" for other countries.

Italy is the first country in the European Union to create processing centers outside the bloc for migrants arriving at its borders.

Italy is taking a first group of migrants to Albania aboard a navy ship, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Monday, activating a controversial plan to process thousands of asylum-seekers abroad.