Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, accused of being unable to solve her country's migration problems, warned the France on Monday (May 5th) against any "use" of Italy in domestic political problems.
"I would warn against using other countries to solve domestic political problems, because this is something we don't usually do," the far-right leader told reporters. Noting that she had spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron the day before French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin's statements questioning his management of immigration, Meloni said there was clearly a difference between the France's discourse "in private and in public." "It makes me think that this is a matter of French domestic politics," she commented.
The head of Italian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani, demanded Friday an apology from Gerald Darmanin, whose remarks on the inability of Giorgia Meloni to manage immigration have caused a new crisis between Rome and Paris, which has since tried to calm the game. Antonio Tajani had canceled Thursday evening his first visit to Paris, where he was to meet his counterpart Catherine Colonna, after the statements of Gerald Darmanin accusing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of being "unable to solve the migration problems on which she was elected". Catherine Colonna quickly posted a message in Italian on Twitter, saying that "the relationship between Italy and France is based on mutual respect." She called Antonio Tajani.
Ultra-sensitive subject
Immigration has been an ultra-sensitive issue in Franco-Italian relations for years. In November, the two countries experienced a fever outbreak when the Meloni government, barely in power, refused to let dock a humanitarian ship of the NGO SOS Méditerranée that had ended up being welcomed by the France in Toulon (south) with more than 200 migrants on board. The episode had aroused the anger of Paris, which had convened a European meeting so that this unprecedented scenario would not happen again.
Since then, the number of clandestine crossings by boat has increased. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, more than 42,000 people have arrived via the Mediterranean in Italy this year compared to about 11,000 over the same period in 2022. Nearly half of them come from French-speaking countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Tunisia, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali), according to figures from the Italian Ministry of the Interior.