BY ANTOANETA ROUSSI for Politico – In an unusual diplomatic move, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni settled a restaurant bill of four Italian tourists who left a restaurant in Albania without paying.

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama raised the issue with his Italian counterpart while Meloni was visiting Albania with her family last week. The incident reportedly took place in Berat, which sits on the Osum River.

Meloni responded by telling her ambassador to “go and pay the bill for these idiots,” Italian paper La Stampa reported. The bill amount to around €80, according to the BBC.

Italy’s embassy in Albania confirmed that it paid the bill with Meloni’s personal funds.

“The Italians respect the rules and pay off their debts and we hope that episodes of this kind will not repeat themselves,” the embassy said.

Francesco Lollobrigida, the Italian agriculture minister, told Reuters that it was a matter of national pride. “She offered to pay the bill. The ambassador was on his way back to Tirana and was available to do this,” he told the news service. “A few dishonest individuals cannot embarrass a nation of decent people,” Lollobrigida said.

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