Salvini: "Weapons to Kyiv while there is war. But talking now about sending soldiers makes no sense. Trump? The EU should not be afraid"

On the same topic:

He defends Trump, attacks Brussels but assures: " We have always voted for all military aid to Ukraine and as long as the war is ongoing we will do so". Matteo Salvini speaks to the foreign press and makes clear the line on the main foreign policy issues.

"Vance said that the king is naked, the EU should not be afraid of Trump or tariffs but of some internal enemy . It is clear that there was also someone who made a mistake in the government of the EU institutions, whether the mistake was in good faith or bad faith, history will tell", says the leader of the League. "If from overseas they say the problem is you and not us, they are right, if von der Leyen continues as if nothing had happened on the Green Deal it is masochism and it is not Trump's or Beijing's fault... Trump's or Vance's words are very healthy wake-up calls for Europe, the alarm clock can also be turned off and continue sleeping: I fear that in Brussels they are reacting in this way".

Also for this reason, the deputy prime minister adds in another passage, "if Europe is the one that has caused entire productive sectors to fail, the last thing to do is a common European army, I prefer strong national states that invest in defense. With von der Leyen at the head, a common European army lasts 20 minutes and then gives up". Strong national states, however, means increasing military spending, a prospect that Salvini does not exclude, but under certain conditions. "Choices must be made. We rightly speak of great values ​​such as peace, letters arrive from Brussels about hydroelectric power plants and the beaches of Forte dei Marmi. Military spending can certainly be increased", but "either everything is outside the package of European constraints, or if I have to decide whether to invest in tanks or schools and hospitals, I do not choose tanks".

Still on the subject of Brussels, the Lega leader explained that "it would be strange if Ukraine joined before Serbia and Albania, which have been waiting a lifetime. This would not be a sign of respect from this point of view".

On Meloni and the participation of the Prime Minister at the Cpac convention , the one with Steve Bannon's outstretched arm, the Deputy Prime Minister states: "As for Bannon, the greetings, the arms, the closed fists, I think Meloni did well to intervene, there were parliamentarians from the League who made their interventions, then everyone thinks with their own head... I don't think the topic of fascism is current, fortunately" . And Bardella, the leader of the Front National who instead decided to give up his speech? "I don't comment on those who made other choices".

Salvini also spoke about relations with Moscow, with which the League itself had close relations until a few years ago: "The invasion and the war have changed any type of relationship. When you unleash a war, agreements fall through . Russia is a great country by history and tradition and I think that, once the war is over, it is better to have Russia as a power that dialogues with Europe rather than leave it in the hands of China. With a war underway there was no type of relationship or relations".

The Minister of Transport finally spoke about Stellantis, whose data "are dramatic, it didn't take a scientist to understand that the suicide imposed by Brussels in the name of the electric car would have resulted in deaths and injuries among workers and engineers, not among politicians". And he then announced that he will be in Morocco, as part of the Mattei Plan. "In my small way I am working on the issues of infrastructure in Mediterranean and North African countries". While in May he will be in China and Japan. "My goal is to have contacts with large companies, we are working on the Bridge over the Strait, the TAV". On the infrastructure front, he continued. "China and Japan are two very advanced realities. I am eager to be there"

More on these topics: