Italian PM holds a phone call with Turkish president Erdogan ahead of NATO summit
With one of the EU’s lowest defence spending levels in the EU, SAFE loans officially paused, and critical armament contracts at risk, Meloni’s trip to Ankara for a NATO summit risks turning into a complicated visit.
After weeks of tension and rising internal divisions, Italy’s plan to use SAFE loans now appears to have been effectively shelved. The Italian government clarified on Thursday that Rome will not activate SAFE in the immediate term, instead linking any decision to a future parliamentary vote on a broader increase in defence and energy borrowing, a process that may take several months.
For Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the issue is increasingly intertwined with her diplomatic positioning ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara.
According to La Repubblica, uncertainty over SAFE is also creating risks for Italy’s NATO commitments, particularly the alliance’s request for two heavy brigades requiring more than 200 main battle tanks and 800 tracked combat vehicles.
