Fact-Check: 2019 Italian PM speech misrepresented as threat to Pakistan
The original speech is from 2019 and has no connection with the current tensions between India and Pakistan
Updated Monday May 05 2025
Some Indian online users are sharing a short video clip which purportedly shows Italy’s prime minister threatening Pakistan in a speech. These claims come at a time when relations between India and Pakistan have dramatically soured after an attack that killed 26 civilians in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) last month.
The claim is false. The speech is not related to Pakistan.
Claim
On April 30, a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted a video clip of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni delivering a speech from a podium.
The user captioned the video as: “PM of Italy Giorgia Meloni threatening Pakistan.”
In the 35-second footage, the Italian prime minister can be heard speaking in Italian. The post has been viewed over 312,400 times and liked 4,500 times to date.
Another user on the same platform wrote that Italy’s PM has assured her full support to India. While one wrote that the Italian premier has threatened to turn Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad, into an “Italian parking lot”.
Fact
In reality, the video has been spliced from a speech Giorgia Meloni made in 2019, when she was not elected the prime minister of Italy. Also, in the original speech, she makes no mention of Pakistan.
Using reverse image search, Geo Fact Check found that the clip was first posted on April 15, 2019, on the official YouTube page of the state-owned Italian news channel, Vista Agenzia Televisiva Nazionale.
Part 1 and 2 of the speech can be viewed here and here:
In fact, the exact translation of the clip of Meloni circulating online is:
“Rome is the capital of Italy - and I’ll go further. Rome should be the capital of European Union. It shouldn’t be just a convenient office location, it should represent the millennial identity of our continent.”
Verdict: The claim that Italy’s incumbent prime minister threatened Pakistan post the attack in Pahalgam on April 22 is misleading and false. The original speech is from 2019 and has no connection with the current tensions between India and Pakistan.
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