This photograph taken on Dec. 2, 2021, shows a sign of the the World Health Organization next to theirs headquarters, in Geneva. (AFP)
This photograph taken on Dec. 2, 2021, shows a sign of the the World Health Organization next to theirs headquarters, in Geneva. (AFP)

Italy's far-right League party, a partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, proposed a law Thursday to follow Donald Trump and pull out of the World Health Organization.

A spokeswoman for Meloni, whose post-Fascist Brothers of Italy party is the largest in parliament, said she did not yet have a position on the proposal.

It comes after President Trump said he would pull the United States out of the UN body.

League Senator Claudio Borghi accused the WHO of an "excess of power" and said Italy's contribution could be better spent.

"These 100 million (euros) I am quite convinced could be better allocated, both for the national health service and for projects, for example with the United States," he told a press conference.

Borghi said he hoped his party's allies would agree to the plan. Without their support, it has no chance of becoming law.

Opposition parties have condemned the idea of pulling out of the WHO.

Sandra Zampa, a senator for the centre-left Democratic party who served as a junior health minister during the coronavirus pandemic, said everyone would lose.

"There is no sovereignty when dealing with the protection of public health because viruses and diseases do not respect borders," Zampa said this week.

The League, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, has been losing voters for years to Meloni's party.

In response, it has been tacking further and further to the political right, and has firmly positioned itself alongside Trump.

Meloni, too, has sought to court Trump, and was the only European Union leader to attend his inauguration on Monday. But she has yet to comment on his flurry of announcements since taking office, some of which -- notably threats of trade tariffs and demands for more defence spending -- risk having a significant impact on debt-laden Italy. (AFP)