A black cat ran between NATO and EU allies
The Italian foreign minister canceled a visit to Paris due to “insults” from France. The move comes after France's interior minister accused Italian Prime Minister George Meloni of lying to voters about migration.
Photo: globallookpress.com
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceled a trip to Paris on Thursday in response to the “offensive” the comments of the French Minister of the Interior to the Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, writes The Guardian.
In an interview with RMC radio, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Meloni “failed to solve the migration problems for which she was elected” and accused the head of the Italian government of “lying”. voters that it would end the flow of people crossing the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe.
Antonio Tajani was about to fly to Paris for a meeting with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna, partly aimed at restoring good relations between the two countries when news of the statement of the French Minister of the Interior reached him.
“I will not go to Paris for the expected meeting with Kolona, – wrote Italy's top diplomat on Twitter. – The insults against the government and Italy expressed by Minister Darmanen are unacceptable. This is not the spirit in which pan-European issues should be addressed.
Paris quickly tried to reassure Tajani of its readiness to work with Rome “to solve the common problem of the rapid growth of migration flows”, but this was not enough to change his mind .
Catherine Colonna stated that she spoke with Melt on the phone. “I told him that relations between Italy and France are based on mutual respect between our two countries and their leaders, – she wrote on her Twitter. – I hope to be able to welcome him in Paris soon”.
Italy and France have often been at loggerheads over immigration issues, but relations between Rome and Paris soured after Giorgio Meloni's right-wing government came to power in Italy in October. In November, Darmanin accused the Italian government of “selfishness”; after refusing to allow a rescue ship carrying 230 people to dock in Italy and forcing it to travel to France. Meloni responded by saying the French response was “aggressive”.
Emmanuel Macron and the French government still remember the devastating spat with Italy four years ago, when Paris took the extraordinary step of recalling its ambassador from Rome amid the worst crisis between by both neighboring countries since World War II, writes The Guardian.
At the time, France accused Rome of “baseless verbal attacks”; the Italian political leaders of the time, the far-right Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement; against an establishment that she said was “unprecedented since World War II”. Immigration at the Franco-Italian border was also one of the reasons for the row.
The French government is under pressure over immigration after delaying an immigration bill until the autumn as Macron's centrist faction, which lost its absolute majority in parliament, failed to secure the necessary parliamentary support for the draft law in connection with the crisis surrounding the law on raising the retirement age to 64.