ROME, Italy – One is a flamboyant billionaire known for speaking off the cuff, the other an obscure and low-key law professor who rarely departs from his prepared remarks. But among the leaders of the world’s industrialized countries, President Donald Trump and newly-installed Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte seem to have found unexpected common ground on two of the world’s prickliest geopolitical questions: the treatment of migrants in their country and the role Russia should play in the world.
While the U.S. is drawing worldwide criticism for its new policy of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border, Italy has drawn ire for turning away refugee rescue ships. And at the recent Group of Seven summit in Canada, Conte was the only leader to voice support for Trump’s statement that Russia -- which had been booted from the exclusive club after its invasion of Crimea in Ukraine -- should be let back in.
“It does seem the two men have found common ground on some difficult areas,” said Arianna Montanari, a professor of political sociology at Rome’s La Sapienza University. “They are both part of the same trend. Will anything change for the White House because Italy has some of the same views? Will the Italian government be bolstered by the situation? Maybe a little. But the real news is that the anti-establishment wave that created Brexit and then Trump’s victory has now rolled over Italy.”
Analysts said the face of that trend in Italy is not Conte, but rather Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-establishment League and the minister of the interior in Conte’s government.
Salvini, is a long-time admirer of Trump’s. When Salvini just a leader of a regional political party two years ago, he traveled to the U.S. expressly to meet and pose for a photo with then-candidate Trump. Salvini is the author of the policy to turn away most refugee rescue ships. And while Salvini has not formally called for Russia’s return to the G-7, the League has been dogged by allegations of Russian ties in recent years, and, like Trump, Salvini says he is an admirer of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“For now at least, it seems Salvini will have the biggest say in what direction the Italian government will head,” said Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, a former Italian diplomat who is now president of Italy’s Institute For Foreign Affairs, a think tank. “But Conte is the head of government, he has the final say, and Conte clearly has sympathies for much of Trump’s agenda.”
Trump said as much after the G-7 summit, praising Conte. “The new prime minister of Italy is great,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “He’s very strong on immigration, like I am.”
Italy’s new government has been in power since June 1, and for its supporters, that kind of endorsement carries weight.
“One or two months ago, Italy didn’t have a government and hardly anyone knew who Giuseppe Conte was,” said Riccardo Milanese, a 30-year-old restaurant manager who voted for the League in Italy’s general election in March. “Now he’s getting compliments on television from the president of the United States.”
But Gian Franco Gallo, a political affairs consultant with ABS Securities in Milan, said supporters should keep Trump’s stated endorsement in perspective.
“In the short term it’s much better to hear nice words from the U.S. president rather than the kind of critical comments he made about Canada and [its Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau,” Gallo said. “But I think Trump said what made sense for him personally. On Italian television, they had to add Conte’s name to the subtitles for that interview. Trump did not even say Conte’s name.”
A version of this story can be found in The Washington Times.
