Italy’s glam prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, joked Monday that she would probably “kill someone” if she had to give up cigarettes.
The 48-year-old populist leader was overheard at the Gaza peace summit in Egypt admitting that she could never quit the habit as she bantered with her fellow world leaders.
Meloni was speaking with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has vowed to make his country smoke-free, during the summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh.
“You look great. But I have to make you stop smoking,” Erdogan told Meloni, video from Turkish news outlet Ihlas News Agency shows.
The Turkish prez’s opener sparked laughter from British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who were with him.
“It’s impossible,” Macron said during the meeting.
“I know, I know,” Meloni said. “I don’t want to kill someone.”
Meloni revealed in a recent book that she had started smoking again after kicking the habit 13 years ago.
She also claimed that smoking had helped her bond with other world leaders, including Tunisian President Kais Saied.
President Trump also praised the Italian leader’s looks during Monday’s summit, following his earlier address to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
“I’m not normally allowed to say it because usually it’s the end of your political career if you say it. She’s a beautiful young woman!” Trump joked as he described Meloni, who was standing behind him at the time.
“Now if you use the word beautiful in the United States about a woman, that’s the end of your political career, but I’ll take my chances!” he added.
“Where is she? There she is. You don’t mind being called beautiful, right? Because you are,” he told Meloni.
“She wanted to be here and she’s incredible and they really respect her in Italy. She’s a very successful, very successful politician,” Trump said.
Meloni, who became Italy’s first female prime minister in October 2022, has forged a close relationship with Trump, acting as his mediator in negotiations between the EU and the US on important matters such as the war in Ukraine.
