Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Wednesday that any peace deal in Ukraine must include “security guarantees”, to be “implemented in the context of the Atlantic alliance”, a reference to NATO.
Peace in Ukraine “can only be achieved if Kyiv is given adequate security guarantees to make sure that what we have seen over the past three years does not happen again,” she said in a statement to the press following a meeting in Rome with Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Such guarantees are necessary “to make sure that the European nations that feel most threatened can instead feel safe”, she said.
“These security guarantees must be implemented in the context of the Atlantic alliance because I think that this is the best framework to guarantee a peace that is neither fragile, nor temporary, and that precisely averts the risk that Europe could soon relapse into the drama of war”.
Meloni’s comments come as Britain and France try to convince US President Donald Trump to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any ceasefire agreement with Russia.
London and Paris are spearheading proposals to send a European “reassurance force” of fewer than 30,000 soldiers to protect Ukraine in the event the war ends.
They want assurances from Trump that the US will provide a so-called backstop, possibly in the form of air cover, intelligence and logistics, to support any European troops sent to Ukraine to monitor a ceasefire.
Trump’s sudden shift on Ukraine, pursuing talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and sidelining Ukraine and Europe from discussions, has shaken the NATO alliance.
“Europe must have the courage to work concretely to consolidate that European pillar of the Atlantic alliance that we have been talking about for a long time, and that must complement the North American pillar… because NATO remains the cornerstone of our security,” Meloni said.
“To do that we obviously have to spend more, but we also have to be able to increase investment”, she said.
The “decision to exclude defence spending from the Stability Pact is a first step… (which) should be followed by other solutions”, she said.
Meloni’s right-wing coalition government has been discussing behind closed doors the possibility of sending Italian soldiers as part of a NATO peacekeeping force, according to Italian media reports.
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