The front-runner to become Italy’s next prime minister said she wants to maintain the course set by Mario Draghi on support for Ukraine and avoid adding to domestic debt.
“I wouldn’t be in favor of widening the budget deficit because we are way too indebted,” Giorgia Meloni said at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy. She added that standing by Western sanctions against Russia is needed to bolster Italy’s “international credibility.”
Meloni’s right-wing coalition has an almost 20 percentage-point lead in polls ahead of the Sept. 25 election. She spoke Sunday to Italy’s business and financial elite at the forum on Lake Como, appearing side-by-side with her main competitor, Democratic Party head Enrico Letta, and other party chiefs.
