SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

French government plays down Italy migration row

The French government sought to play down a fresh row with Italy over migration on Friday, saying Rome was an "essential partner" after a spat with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

French government plays down Italy migration row
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin (L) and Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni (R). Photo: Ludovic MARIN: Andreas SOLARO/AFP.

Italy’s foreign minister cancelled a trip to Paris on Thursday over what he termed “unacceptable” comments from French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who said Meloni was “incapable” of tackling her country’s migration crisis.

“Italy is an essential partner to France… our relationship is founded on mutual respect,” French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said late Friday.

“We will prioritise consultation and calm dialogue to continue to work together,” she added.

French government spokesman Olivier Veran had earlier told the Cnews channel that “there was no desire from the interior minister to ostracise Italy in any way at all”.

“We have discussions with the Italians — they love politics — but they want to do things their own way, and they want others to let them,” he added.”And that’s good because we don’t intend to do otherwise.”

Italian media reports on Friday suggested Darmanin’s outburst infuriated Rome, with Meloni said to be on the verge of cancelling a planned trip to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a television interview on Thursday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Darmanin’s remarks were “a stab in the back” and he was waiting for him to “apologise to the prime minister, the government, and Italy”.

Gratuitous and vulgar’

On Friday, Tajani again demanded an apology, saying that was “the least that they can do”.

In an interview with newspaper Il Corriere della Sera he also called Darmanin’s remark a “gratuitous and vulgar insult towards a friendly and allied country”.

The French and Italian governments have clashed repeatedly in recent years over the management of their common land border and the admission of humanitarian boats carrying migrants rescued while trying to cross the Mediterranean.

French Transport Minister Clement Beaune, a close ally of Macron and a former Europe minister, was less conciliatory than Veran in a separate interview on Friday.

He stressed the political differences between Meloni’s right-wing government and Macron’s pro-EU centrist cabinet.

“There is not a solution to the migration issue which does not include European cooperation,” Beaune told Europe 1 radio.

“And you can see that every time there’s an attempt to go it alone, whichever country it is, it doesn’t work,” he added.

Separately on Friday, the head of French immigration authority OFII said nearly a half of migrants arriving on Italy’s Mediterranean shore were from French-speaking sub-Saharan African countries.

Within those French-speaking arrivals, citizens of Ivory Coast were the biggest group, OFII boss Didier Leschi told the Franceinfo broadcaster.

Many of the arrivals headed straight to France and were rarely properly registered by the Italian authorities, Leschi said.

“That’s why there are strong tensions between the two countries,” he said.

EU rules call for migrants to be registered in the arrival country first, and for subsequent discussions to determine which migrants should go to what EU member country, he said.

“It is urgent to improve the burden distribution across the EU,” he said.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

2024 EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

Italy’s hard-right government demands top EU commission job

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has made clear the country wants a top EU job, and her foreign minister spelled out Rome's demand on Monday: a vice-presidency in the next European Commission.

Italy's hard-right government demands top EU commission job

Antonio Tajani was addressing reporters during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, ahead of a leaders’ summit this week intended to settle the lineup at the bloc’s helm following the June 6-9 elections.

“I believe it’s impossible for Italy not to have a commission vice-presidency, and a commissioner with an important portfolio,” Tajani said.

“It’s the minimum our country can expect,” he said.

READ ALSO: Italy’s far-right Giorgia Meloni emerges stronger from EU vote

Meloni believes the relative success of her hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping – shaping up as the EU parliament’s third force following the elections – should be reflected in the bloc’s leadership.

However the EU’s four top posts look set to be divvied up among the existing alliance dominating the parliament: the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and its partners the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist Renew Europe.

Meloni last week called it “surreal” that the ECR was not considered in the top job nominations — but Tajani’s comments suggest she has settled on a powerful commission vice-presidency as a runner-up prize.

READ ALSO: European elections: What happens next in Brussels after shock results?

In an interview with French media at the weekend, Tajani said Italy wanted a “strong commissioner” role, in order to lead a “good European policy in favour of industry and agriculture.”

The vice-president would “of course be committed on climate change, but not in a fundamentalist way,” he said – in a nod to recurring right-wing complaints about EU environmental policies under the outgoing commission.

Vice-presidents – there are currently seven– act on behalf of the European Commission chief, and coordinate work in their area of responsibility, together with several other commissioners.

Current commission head Ursula von der Leyen, of the EPP, is seen returning to the role, with former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa of the S&D tipped as European Council president; and Renew’s Kaja Kallas, the current Estonian premier, as the EU’s foreign policy “high representative”.

Current European Parliament speaker Roberta Metsola, also from the EPP, is seen staying on in her chair.

SHOW COMMENTS