Statement by President von der Leyen at the start of her trilateral meeting with Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy and J.D. Vance, Vice-President of the United States

European Commission - Statement Statement by President von der Leyen at the start of her trilateral meeting with Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy and J.D. Vance, Vice- President of the United States Rome, 18 May 2025 First of all, thank you very much dear Giorgia, for your hospitality, for receiving us here today, for enabling this trilateral. And Vice-President, it is good to see you again, we met in Paris, now here in Rome. And as you said, we have a special and close relationship. If I look at trade, indeed, we have the largest trade relationship in the world, with more than USD 1.5 trillion per year, so it's very much intertwined. So, indeed, it is important now we have exchanged papers, that our experts are deep diving, and discussing the details. Everybody knows that the devil is in the detail, but what unites us is that at the end is that we want to have a good deal for both sides. I would like also to raise the topic of Ukraine. What unites us is that we want to a just and lasting peace, and I know how much you are engaged in ending this war and I thank you for that. What is certainly important now is that we push that things are moving forward, and I think the next week will be crucial in this regard. And finally on defence. European Member States know they have to step up investments in defence. This is why as a Commission we have enabled the use of up to EUR 800 billion in the next four years for defence investment. And this of course will...