Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is still dealing with the political repercussions of falling foul of a prank call by a Russian comedian in which she speaks candidly about the EU’s growing fatigue over the Ukrainian war as well as disunity over the migrant crisis currently swamping southern Europe.
The Italian premier was left red-faced after speaking for over thirteen minutes on the phone to someone she believed was president of the African Union but was in fact a member of the Russian comedy duo “Vovan and Lexus,” known for their pro-Kremlin stances as well as similar pranks against politicians such as John McCain, Angela Merkel, and Turkish President Erdoğan, among others.
Throughout the call, Meloni expresses her private frustrations at the failure of European leaders to grasp the scale of the migrant crisis and political turmoil in the Sahel, saying that the problem was far bigger than what Italy alone could solve.
“Europe has thought for a long time that it could solve the problem by closing Italy. What they don’t understand is that it is impossible,” Meloni admitted, adding that even the UN may need to be drafted in to assist with the crisis.
Meloni then warned against French attempts to militarily intervene in Niger as she pushed “diplomatic efforts” to solve the Sahel turmoil, saying that Paris had ulterior economic motives to maintain its influence in West Africa beyond stopping migration.
Throughout the rumbling crisis in the Sahel, Italy has consistently taken an anti-colonial line, suggesting that European governments are better off cooperating with Africa in the development of its own natural resources through initiatives such as the Mattei Plan around North African gas.
In reference to the UK’s ill-fated Rwanda plan to curb asylum fraud, Meloni voiced her opinion that many third-world migrants were “impossible to integrate” as she questioned whether the European Commission fully understood the depth of the problem due to its slow response time.
On Ukraine, Meloni admitted that there was “a lot of fatigue” in EU circles as she divulged that European governments were quietly pushing for a “way out” in resolving the conflict that respected the rules-based global order but accepted the reality on the ground and that Italy was privately hatching a peace plan to placate both sides.
The Italian leader went on to describe how the conflict could continue for “many years” as she expressed doubts about Kyiv’s much-lauded counteroffensive that is increasingly accepted as having underperformed. Meloni concludes the call by saying that both Europe and America ought to “take care of Africa” to deal with the migrant crisis as soon as the Ukraine crisis is resolved.
In the aftermath of the ruse, former opposition leader Matteo Renzi described Meloni’s actions as “a bad look for Italy” while the PM’s office downplayed the prank on account of “tiredness.”
Meloni and her Fratelli d’Italia were elected in October 2022 as the lead party in a three-way right-wing coalition. She and her administration have been heavily criticised by many, even in her own ruling coalition, for having failed to deal with Italy’s crippling asylum crisis as she pursues a distinctly pro-NATO foreign policy direction toward Ukraine and China.
