WASHINGTON – Hurry up, Joe.
With an eye roll for the ages, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appeared annoyed Thursday morning as she and other world leaders waited for President Biden and the alliance’s Secretary Gen. Jens Stoltenberg to finally grace their presence and open the third day of the NATO Summit.
Speaking with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Meloni looked up at the ceiling and crossed her eyes dramatically before gesturing to her wrist to reveal she was not wearing a watch, as the clock ticked past the scheduled 10 a.m. start time.
A third person listening to the conversation then pulled out his phone to check the time, and she again rolled her eyes and scowled before apparently noticing the cameras focused on her.
It’s unclear what the leaders were discussing, but the bold reaction caught the eyes of some onlookers, including a Financial Times reporter who said Meloni displayed “top eye-rolling form” in a post to X.
Biden and Stoltenberg finally opened the day at about 10:40 a.m. — after Biden left the White House for the summit nearly 20 minutes after the event had been scheduled to begin.
The White House also pushed back Biden’s highly anticipated “big boy” solo press conference to 6:30 p.m.
It’s not the first time the 81-year-old president has kept Meloni waiting this summer.
He was the last of the leaders to arrive at last month’s G7 meeting in Italy’s Puglia region, awkwardly saluting her when she received him onstage before the event began.
“You shouldn’t leave a woman waiting like this,” Meloni reportedly chided Biden in an apparent attempt at humor.
Later during the G7, Meloni had to lead Biden back over to a skydiving demonstration when he started to wander off, missing the action as he turned around and shuffled away from his fellow heads of state to say something to an officer packing a parachute.