Italy confirmed its thirteenth military aid package for Ukraine, following internal friction as Rome manages its support alongside major European partners.
Giorgetti Signs Military Decree After Coalition Turbulence
Giancarlo Giorgetti signed off on the new military decree late on Wednesday after 48 hours of intense turbulence within the governing coalition, Open reported. Guido Crosetto previously presented the package to the parliamentary security committee, Copasir, outlining supplies designed to help Ukrainian forces defend against Russian advances.
Tuesday the Defense Minister Guido Crosetto presented to Copasir, the parliamentary committee that deals with national security, the thirteenth supply of weapons, munitions and other support that will be sent to the Ukrainian government to defend itself against Russia.
The signature of Giancarlo Giorgetti on the thirteenth aid package for Kiev arrives late in the evening, after 48 hours of turmoil within the majority and a summit at Palazzo Chigi convened yesterday by Giorgia Meloni, which was also attended by Guido Crosetto, in which they spoke precisely about the line of support for Ukraine.
Nervousness around the prime minister began to surface already over this aid package, for which only the green light from Giorgetti was missing, and the hesitation of the minister arose from purely technical issues, but it was ridden by his party, the League, to keep allies on tenterhooks.
The executive’s package approaches the threshold of one billion euros, effectively tripling the financial value of average Italian decrees issued since the outbreak of the war. For the first twelve packages, official estimates from general staff sources consistently valued each measure between 250 million and 300 million euros. The extended hiatus since the twelfth delivery in November 2025 created a backlog that necessitated a substantially larger allocation.
Alliance Pressures and European Diplomacy
Tensions surrounding the package surfaced publicly when news leaked that Giorgetti remained the sole minister yet to sign the measure. La Stampa said that the hesitation stemmed initially from logistical delays rather than policy opposition, though the leak exposed fractures within Matteo Salvini’s party. Coalition partners in Forza Italia stood firmly behind the premier’s stance.
And then there was Salvini’s persistent mistrust regarding the Ukrainian cause, and the electoral competition of Roberto Vannacci, leader of Futuro Nazionale, who pushes the government from the right by criticizing its pro-Ukrainian positions and excessive spending on weapons.
“The Lega has its legitimate positions, but the line of the government is that of continuing to help Ukraine,” said Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
On the international stage, Meloni participated in a dedicated coordination meeting alongside Andy Burnham and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the discussions, the Italian leader revived her proposal to establish a single European negotiator backed by a clear, collective mandate from all 27 EU member states.
Discussions also touched upon the practical roadmap for Kyiv’s eventual integration into the European Union. Negotiations have often been attended by Paris, Berlin and London, sometimes flanked by Italy.
Parliamentary Resistance Threatens Annual Aid Decree Renewal
Because if this first knot has untied, another much more dangerous one looms on the horizon: it concerns the decree that is renewed every December—since the days when Mario Draghi was at Palazzo Chigi—to give the government the ability to send aid to Ukraine without having to ask Parliament for authorization every time.
Annual decrees have served since 2022 to bypass a 1990 legal prohibition against sending military hardware to nations engaged in active conflict.
Parliamentary factions, particularly within the League, have signaled strong resistance to renewing the enabling framework for 2027, and League member Borghi and other colleagues from his party are saying they are ready to oppose the next decree-law, the one that should extend the possibility of sending arms to Ukraine for 2027, as had already happened in 2023, 2024 and even more so in 2025.
Diplomatic channels within the center-right majority are weighing alternative legislative vehicles, such as embedding the extension within the annual omnibus “Milleproroghe” decree in early 2027.
