Giorgia Meloni

FILE - Eike Bretschneider exits the Seabird aircraft after flying for nearly six hours before running low on fuel over the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya, as a storm approaches the island of Lampedusa, Italy, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Italy’s aviation authority has barred humanitarian migrant rescue groups from using a Sicilian airport to launch search and rescue flights over the Mediterranean, in the government’s latest crackdown on their activities. (AP Photo/Renata Brito, File)

Italy bars NGO migrant rescue flights from Sicilian airport, says they interfere with coast guard

Italy’s aviation authority has barred humanitarian migrant rescue groups from using a Sicilian airport to launch search and rescue flights over the Mediterranean.An ordinance from ENAC’s western Sicilian office said the flights interfered with the Italian coast guard’s exclusive role in coordinating

From left, Italian Foreign Press Association's member Costanze Reuscher hosts a press conference at the Association headquarters in Rome, Monday, May 6, 2024, with Italian state television RAI's journalists, Daniele Macheda, Serena Bortone, Vittorio di Trapani, and Sigfrido Ranucci. Journalists at Italy’s state-run RAI went on strike Monday to protest budget streamlining and what they said was an increasingly repressive atmosphere in Italy for media under the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni. (Cecilia Fabiano /LaPresse via AP)

Italy’s RAI journalists strike over budget streamlining, complain of censorship and media repression

Dozens of people raise their arms in the fascist salute and shout the fascist chant "present" in Dongo, northern Italy, Sunday, April 28, 2024 during ceremonies to honor Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on the 79th anniversary of his execution. Dressed in black, the neo-fascist supporters marched through northern Italian towns where Mussolini was arrested and executed at the end of World War II. (LaPresse Via AP)

Dozens in Italy give a fascist salute on the anniversary of Mussolini’s execution

Palestinian supporters hold a banner reading "Yesterday partisans, today antiZionists and antifascists" as they march on the occasion of the Liberation Day commemoration marking Italy's liberation from Nazi occupation and fascist rule, in Rome, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Controversy over spiked antifascist speech dominates Italy’s Liberation Day anniversary

FILE - People stage a protest on 'International Safe Abortion Day' to ask for more guarantees on the enforcement of the abortion law that they claim is seriously endangered by the high rate of doctors' conscientious objection in the country, in Rome, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government wants to allow anti-abortion groups access to women considering interrupting their pregnancies, making abortion a flashpoint argument in Italy 46 years after it was legalized in the overwhelmingly Catholic country. The Senate on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, was voting on procedural legislation tied to EU COVID-19 recovery funds that includes an amendment sponsored by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)

Abortion returns to the spotlight in Italy, 46 years after it was legalized

Pope Francis sees ‘ugly’ future ahead as he calls for policies against demographic crisis

Pope Francis pressed his campaign Friday to urge Italians to have children, calling for long-term policies to help families warning that the country’s demographic crisis and record low birthrate is threatening the future.

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Italian women demonstrate against the government to protect the right to abortion

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In this photo provided by the Tunisian Presidency, Tunisian President Kais Saied, left, shakes hands with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in Tunis, Wednesday April 17, 2024. Meloni and Saied signed new accords part of Italy's larger "Mattei Plan" for Africa, a continent-wide strategy aimed at growing economic opportunities and preventing migration from Africa to Europe.(Slim Abid/ Tunisian Presidential Palace via AP)

Italy’s leader keeps the focus on migration on her fourth visit to Tunisia in a year

Italy’s leader has acknowledged that Tunisia “cannot become the arrival point for migrants coming from the rest of Europe.”

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni arrives in the courtyard of the Italian government office Chigi Palace, to meet Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Italy’s Meloni seeks symbolic compensation from suspects over deepfake porn images

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has been asked to testify in court July 2 in the trial of two men who are accused of making deepfake pornographic images using her face and posting them online.

Lawmakers of the Democratic Party, left, look on as their colleagues of the ruling Socialist party vote in Tirana, Albania, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. Albania’s Parliament on Thursday approved a deal for the country to hold thousands of migrants rescued in international waters by Italy while their asylum applications are processed, despite protests from opposition lawmakers and human rights groups. (AP Photo/Armando Babani)

Albanian Parliament approves controversial deal to hold migrants for Italy

Albania’s Parliament has approved a deal for the country to hold thousands of asylum seekers for Italy despite protests from opposition lawmakers and human rights groups.

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner waves to fans as he arrives at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Fiumicino, Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Sinner has returned to Italy amid great fanfare with RAI state TV broadcasting live his arrival at the Rome airport. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

‘Grandissimo': Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni welcomes home Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner has returned to Italy amid great fanfare and headed straight to a private meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

FILE - Italy's Premier Giorgia Meloni, right, and Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama, left, shake hands after the signing of a memorandum of understanding on migrant management centers during a meeting in Rome, Italy, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. Albania’s Constitutional Court on Monday Jan. 29, 2024 said a deal can go ahead with Italy under which thousands of migrants rescued at sea by Italian authorities would be sent to Albania while their. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP, File)

Albania’s Constitutional Court says migration deal with Italy can go ahead if approved

Albania’s Constitutional Court says a deal can go ahead with Italy under which thousands of migrants rescued at sea by Italian authorities would be sent to Albania while their asylum applications are processed.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, center, poses for a family photo with, back row from left; Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, African Union President Azali Assoumani, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, back row second from right, Vice President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Matteo Salvini, back row right, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, second from left, second row, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of Tunisia Kais Saied, at the start of an Italy - Africa summit, in Rome, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. Meloni opened a summit of African leaders on Monday aimed at illustrating Italy's big development plan for the continent that her government hopes will stem migration flows and forge a new relationship between Europe and Africa. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Italian leader Meloni unveils plan to promote Africa development and curb migration at summit

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has unveiled Italy’s big development plan for Africa at a summit of African leaders.

FILE - Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni addresses the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament in Rome Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni slammed carmaker Stellantis in parliament this week, accusing it of weakening Italy’s industrial footprint since the merger of FiatChrysler and PSA Peugeot that created the world’s fourth largest auto maker. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP, File)

Italy’s premier slams Stellantis over reduced Italian footprint since Peugeot-FiatChrysler tie-up

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is slamming carmaker Stellantis, accusing it of weakening Italy’s industrial footprint since the merger of FiatChrysler and Peugeot that created the world’s fourth largest auto maker.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni addresses the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament in Rome Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Italy’s lower chamber of parliament OKs deal with Albania to house migrants during asylum processing

Italy’s lower chamber of parliament has approved a novel deal with Albania to house migrants during the processing of their asylum requests.

The Sos Mediterranee-run charity rescue ship, Ocean Viking, is moored in Bari, southern Italy, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. The ship was detained by the Italian authorities with the accusation of not having followed the orders of the Italian coast guard. The year has gotten off to a slow start for the rescue ship that typically plies the Mediterranean Sea looking for migrants and refugees in distress. (AP Photo/Paolo Santalucia)

Italy’s regulations on charities keep migrant rescue ships from the Mediterranean

The year has gotten off to a slow start for a charity-run rescue ship that typically plies the Mediterranean Sea looking for migrants and refugees in distress.

People gather during a rally to commemorate the slaying in 1978 of two members of a neo-fascist youth group in an attack later claimed by extreme-left militants, in Rome, Sunday Jan. 7, 2024. Opposition politicians in Italy demanded on Monday that Italy's government explain how hundreds of demonstrators were able to give a banned fascist salute at a Rome rally without any police intervention. (Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)

Italian opposition demands investigation after hundreds give fascist salute at Rome rally

Opposition politicians in Italy are demanding that police investigate a rally in Rome where hundreds of participants raised an arm in the banned fascist salute.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni answers journalists' questions during her year end press conference, in Rome, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italian Premier Meloni says curbing migrant arrivals from Africa is about investment, not charity

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has told her European Union partners that curbing migration flows from African countries has less to do with offers of charity than strong partnerships coupled with strategic investments in those nations.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, centre welcomes Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right and Albania's Prime Minister Edy Rama, at Chigi Palace, in Rome, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)

The leaders of Italy, the UK and Albania meet in Rome to hold talks on migration

The leaders of Italy and the U.K. have agreed to tackle irregular migration to Europe. They pledged to intensify cooperation in the fight against human trafficking.

Italy's Premier Giorgia Meloni, right, and Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama, left, shake hands after the signing of a memorandum of understanding on migrant management centres during a meeting in Rome, Italy, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Albania agrees to temporarily house migrants who reach Italy while their asylum bids are processed

Albania has agreed to temporarily give shelter to thousands of the migrants who reach Italy while Italian authorities process their asylum bids.

Italy's Premier Giorgia Meloni meets the media following a cabinet meeting in Rome Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Meloni pushes change to let voters directly elect Italy’s premier in bid to make governments last

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Cabinet has approved her proposal to make the prime minister’s office directly elected by voters in a bid to make Italy’s governments more stable and lasting.

Italy’s premier acknowledges ‘fatigue’ over Ukraine war in call with Russian pranksters

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office has expressed “regret” that she fell prey to a prank call that induced her to acknowledge “fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.

CORRECTS YEAR TO 2022- Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, center, and her partner Andrea Giambruno arrive for theseason opener at the Scala Opera house, in Milan, northern Italy, Dec. 7, 2022. Meloni announced Friday, Oct. 20, 2023 that she is separating from her partner and the father of her young daughter after nearly a decade together. In a statement posted on social media, Meloni said her relationship with Andrea Giambruno had ended. She said their paths had diverged “for some time.” The announcement came after Giambruno, an on-air television personality, was caught on audio seemingly making lewd remarks to colleagues. (Alessandro Bremec/LaPresse via AP)

Italian Premier Meloni announces separation from partner, father of daughter

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has announced that she is separating from her partner and the father of her young daughter after nearly a decade together.

People participate in a march of remembrance marking the 80th anniversary of the roundup of the Jews of Rome in Rome, Italy, Monday Oct. 16, 2023. Italian lawmakers on Monday marked the 80th anniversary of the Nazi roundup of more than 1,200 Roman Jews in the Holocaust with a debate on a measure to partially fund a long-delayed Holocaust Museum in the capital. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)

Italian lawmakers debate long-delayed Holocaust Museum revived by far-right-led government

Italian lawmakers have marked the 80th anniversary of the Nazi roundup of more than 1,200 Roman Jews in the Holocaust with a debate on a measure to partially fund a long-delayed Holocaust Museum in the capital.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, front left, and the Italy's Premier Giorgia Meloni, front right, visit the island of Lampedusa, in Italy, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Sunday toured a migrant center on Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa that was overwhelmed with nearly 7,000 arrivals in a 24-hour period this week. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

EU pledges crackdown on ‘brutal’ migrant smuggling during visit to overwhelmed Italian island

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged the swift return of “irregular” migrants and a crackdown on smugglers Sunday during a visit with Italy’s premier to a tiny fishing island overwhelmed with nearly 7,000 migrant arrivals in a single day this week.

Italian carabinieri police speak to migrants protesting at a reception center on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Thousands of migrants and refugees have landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa this week after crossing the Mediterranean Sea on small unseaworthy boats from Tunisia, overwhelming local authorities and aid organizations. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Top EU official heads to an Italian island struggling with migrant influx as Italy toughens stance

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plans to travel on Sunday to the Italian island of Lampedusa amid an influx of migrants who arrived this week.

Migrants sleep outside on Lampedusa Island, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. A migrant reception center in Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa was overwhelmed Thursday as authorities worked to transfer to the mainland thousands of people who arrived on small, unseaworthy boats in a 24-hour span this week. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Italian leader Giorgia Meloni vows to take ‘extraordinary measures’ to deal with a migrant influx

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is vowing to take “extraordinary measures” to deal with an influx of migrants.

Migrants walk towards a station to board a bus directed to Marseille, France, in Rome, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Despite vows by Italy’s right-wing government to crack down on migrant arrivals and European Union-inked deals with Tunisia to stem the flow, the numbers of desperate people making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing keep rising. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A flotilla of migrant boats from Tunisia overwhelms an Italian island and tests Meloni’s policy

A flotilla of flimsy boats, crowded with migrants and launched from Tunisia, is overwhelming a tiny Italian island south of Sicily.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment event on the day of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Pool)

Italy’s Meloni meets with China’s Li as Italy’s continued participation in ‘Belt and Road’ in doubt

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a visit to the Green Park neighbourhood in Caivano, Italy, Thursday Aug. 31, 2023. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

Italy’s government approves crackdown on juvenile crime after a spate of rapes and youth criminality

Italy’s right-wing government Thursday approved a decree to crack down on juvenile delinquency, broadening conditions under which minors aged 14 or above can be jailed.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a visit to the Green Park neighbourhood in Caivano, Italy, Thursday Aug. 31, 2023. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)

Italy’s Meloni visits Naples suburb where 2 girls were allegedly raped by youths, pledges crackdown

Under heavy security, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has visited a rundown Naples suburb where drug traffickers operate largely with impunity and two girls were allegedly repeatedly raped by local youths.

FILE - Far-Right party Brothers of Italy's leader Giorgia Meloni speaks to the media at her party's electoral headquarters in Rome, early Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. When Giorgia Meloni was running to become Italy’s first far-right head of government since the demise of the country's fascist dictatorship, she steeped her campaign in ideological touchpoints like national sovereignty and “traditional families.” (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

Italian leader tones down divisive rhetoric but carries on with pursuit of far-right agenda

When Giorgia Meloni was running to become Italy’s first far-right head of government of the post-war era, she steeped her winning campaign in the sharply ideological rhetoric of national sovereignty, “traditional families” and fear of migrants.

President Joe Biden meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden thanks far-right Italian Premier Meloni for her strong support of Ukraine

President Joe Biden is praising Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni for Italy’s “very strong support” of Ukraine under her watch.

The prime minister of one of Libya's rival administrations, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, front, and the President of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority Pierluigi Di Palma, right, leave the airplane after their arrival in Tripoli, Libya, Monday, July 24, 2023, on the first direct flight between Italy and Libya in nearly a decade by a commercial airline. Oil-rich Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. In the disarray that followed, the country split into rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments, and much of the country's international air connections were cancelled. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

One of Libya’s rival prime ministers returns to Tripoli on 1st commercial flight from Italy in years

One of Libya’s rival prime ministers has returned to the capital of Tripoli from Italy on a charter flight with a commercial airline, the first direct flight between the two countries in a decade.

Patrick Zaki waves upon his arrival at the Milan Malpensa airport, Italy, Sunday, July 23, 2023. Egypt on Thursday released two human rights defenders, including one who has ties with Italy, their lawyers said, concluding two cases that drew significant international criticism and attention. The releases of Patrick George Zaki, an activist and postgraduate student in Italy, and Mohamed el-Baker, a human rights lawyer, came a day after they were pardoned by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi along with four other people. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)

Freed Egyptian human rights campaigner arrives in Italy, which championed his case

A high-profile Egyptian activist who was recently released from prison has landed in Italy, where the government championed his case.

Participants into an International conference on migration pose for a family photo in Rome, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italy’s Meloni seeks broad cooperation to stanch flows of migrants to Europe with aid to Africa

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has called for new, more equal relationships between Europe and migrants’ countries of origin and transit.

This photo provided by Marise George, shows her brother, Patrick George Zaki, top center, a prominent Egyptian rights activist with ties to Italy, celebrating with his family, Thursday, July 20, 2023, outside the Dakahlia security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, after he was pardoned by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi along with five other people, according to the country's Official Gazette. Patrick was released from jail Thursday, days after he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, according to his family and a rights defender. (Marise George via AP)

Two prominent Egyptian rights figures are released from prison following presidential pardons

Relatives and a rights defender say two prominent figures from Egypt’s human rights community have been released from prison.