Italy’s far-right leader visits EU: “We are not Martians”

By RAF CASERT and COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — New far-right Premier Giorgia Meloni has used her first visit to European Union headquarters to declare that Italy will be a force to reckon with in EU affairs. It was unclear whether that was a promise or a threat from one of the bloc’s founding members. It was Meloni’s first foreign trip after brokering Italy’s only far-right led government since World War II. For some, it brought the far right into the walls of the EU, just as the bloc faces crises on many fronts. But Meloni said she had found her EU counterparts receptive and described the talks Thursday as “frank and very positive.” She said they discussed the war in Ukraine, soaring prices for energy and raw materials as well as migration.