Italy's foreign policy is made by its top diplomat and its premier, foreign minister and deputy premier, Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday, denying that a phone call last week between transport minister Matteo Salvini and US vice-president JD Vance had bypassed him.
"All ministers talk to their interlocutors in the various countries. If the conversation with the US vice-president is about transport and the Olympics, the deputy premier in charge of transport did well to talk to him," Tajani said on the sidelines of a party event in Rome.
"I never feel bypassed by anyone. I am foreign minister, and foreign policy is set by the prime minister and foreign minister," Tajani said.
Italy's coalition government contains premier Giorgia Meloni's hard-right Brother of Italy party, Salvini's anti-immigrant League party and Tajani's conservative Forza Italia party (which he co-founded with late media mogul and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi).
