ROME – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have maintained close contact in recent weeks, culminating in a phone call on Saturday evening to discuss transatlantic priorities and efforts to re-establish dialogue with Donald Trump.
After attending the funeral of Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a phone conversation on Saturday evening, focusing on key transatlantic challenges, according to a spokesperson for the European Commission. The discussion covered continued support for Ukraine, the evolving security framework ahead of the NATO summit, and sensitive negotiations over trade tariffs with the Trump administration.
The call came after a brief exchange between von der Leyen and U.S. President Donald Trump at the Vatican — their first face-to-face interaction since Trump’s return to the White House earlier this year. According to sources close to Meloni, cited by Corriere della Sera, the Italian prime minister worked intensively behind the scenes to facilitate this initial contact, which she views as “very important.”
Within the Italian government, the episode is seen as a boost for the role Meloni is trying to carve out for herself: recognition as a mediator within the West. The same Palazzo Chigi sources also claimed credit for informal talks between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at St. Peter’s Basilica.
In a social media post, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party described the day as “historic,” highlighting the prime minister’s role in “advancing solutions to the most delicate issues troubling international relations.” The post praised Meloni’s diplomatic efforts as “carefully and discreetly woven, without seeking the spotlight, even as the eyes of the world were on Rome — the Capital of Christianity and, thanks to our Prime Minister, also of global diplomacy.”
Ahead of the event, which drew 170 delegations from around the world, the Italian government had explicitly ruled out any formal meetings between EU officials and Trump, calling such encounters “in poor taste” given the occasion’s solemn nature.
Still, both von der Leyen and Trump signaled a willingness to meet officially in the near future. Meloni, who proposed an EU–U.S. summit during her visit to Washington last week, hopes to see it materialize before the NATO summit scheduled for late June.