Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
ROME – Political tension has flared again within the governing coalition. The League’s national congress has formally demanded an end to the sending of funds and military equipment to Kyiv, just as the Foreign Ministry confirmed that the 13th assistance package for Ukraine is ready for final approval. The clash pits the two deputy premiers, Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani, against each other.
The League congress vote and Salvini’s mandate
The row officially erupted on Sunday 25 October 2026 during the League congress in Milan. Before being re-elected party secretary with 465 votes (Massimo Garavaglia received 146), Matteo Salvini asked for and secured by show of hands a mandate from the delegates.
The League’s grassroots aim is to push the Council of Ministers to immediately halt new shipments of resources and arms to Ukraine, turning this demand into official party policy. However, no date has yet been set to discuss the issue in the Council of Ministers: it will not appear on the agenda of the next meeting, which is devoted to the budget manoeuvre, and any debate on renewing the authorisations has for now been postponed.
Tajani and Crosetto’s reply: “Policy unchanged, 13th package ready”
Replies from the relevant ministries were swift and came today, 26 October. From Milan, the head of the Farnesina Antonio Tajani reiterated that Italy’s commitment to Kyiv would continue for as long as necessary, announcing the imminent dispatch of the 13th aid package.
From Paris, the defence minister Guido Crosetto struck the same note, stressing that the country’s political course could not be deflected. He described support for Ukrainian resistance as an essential bulwark for European security and international deterrence.
Aid contents and the 31 December legal deadline
In practical terms, the 13th package will include both civilian and energy supplies and military materiel. The Farnesina recalled that humanitarian support and military defence have always advanced in lockstep under Italy’s decisions.
The real political and legal hurdle remains 31 December 2026, when the parliamentary authorisation for supplying defence materiel to Kyiv expires. Failure to extend it would freeze the legal mechanism of the defence-supply decrees, without however affecting the humanitarian, financial and diplomatic assistance channels active on the multilateral level.
