Italy to extend Ukraine arms supply law for 2023–minister

By: 2 years ago

Italy’s newly appointed Defence Minister Guido Crosetto looks on during the swearing-in ceremony at Quirinale Presidential Palace in Rome, Italy October 22, 2022. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

ROME — Italy’s government will ask parliament to approve a new law on military and civilian supplies to Ukraine throughout 2023, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview published on Monday.

The Rome government can send aid to Ukraine without seeking parliamentary authorization each time on the basis of a decree that expires at the end of the year.

“The Defense (ministry) will shortly propose to renew that same measure, extending it to all of 2023,” Crosetto told Il Foglio newspaper.

Italy will continue supplying arms, as it has done in the past, “in the times and ways that we will agree with our Atlantic allies and with Kyiv”, Crosetto added.

Earlier this month, a governing coalition official told Reuters that Italy was readying a new arms package for Ukraine, including air defense systems Kyiv has specifically asked for.

Crosetto also told Il Foglio that he would propose to exclude expenditure on “defense investments” from EU deficit calculations, under the bloc’s Stability and Growth Pact.

“Some countries, I won’t tell you which ones, are actually very much in favor,” Crosetto said, referring to preliminary contacts he had with EU peers.

He said he raised the issue with EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, a former Italian premier, and would do the same in a letter to fellow EU defense ministers.

Crosetto belongs to Brothers of Italy, the right-wing party of Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is a staunch supporter of Ukraine.

The two other key members of the ruling coalition, Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi, are more ambivalent, both having historical ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.