MILAN: US Vice President JD Vance and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, a fellow conservative, hailed their “shared values” on Friday ahead of the Olympics as hundreds protested against the US in Milan.
Prime Minister Meloni, one of the European leaders closest to President Donald Trump, said sport and religion were “values that keep together Italy and the US, Europe and the US, Western civilization.”
Vance praised Meloni for Italy’s organization of the Olympics and also welcomed “coming together around shared values.”
Meloni and Vance — a fervent Catholic who converted in 2019 — last met in Rome following the election last year of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff.
There has been anger in Italy ahead of the Games over the presence of some agents from the US immigration enforcement agency ICE as part of security for the US delegation.
