Jacques Serais / Photo credit: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Emmanuel Macron receives Italian President Sergio Matarella this Wednesday in Paris. The two leaders are due to visit the “Naples in Paris” exhibition which is inaugurated at the Louvre at midday. A meeting that comes as Franco-Italian relations have been particularly tense in recent weeks.
The relationship between France and Italy on the way to patching up? Emmanuel Macron receives Italian President Sergio Matarella this Wednesday in Paris. The two leaders are due to visit the “Naples in Paris” exhibition which is inaugurated at the Louvre at midday, before having lunch together. The arrival of Sergio Matarella is intended in particular to prepare another visit: that of the head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni.
A remark from Gérald Darmanin that annoys
Officially, this reception is in the name of the “exceptional ties” that unite France and Italy, but the reality is much more down to earth. The Franco-Italian relationship is going through a bad patch and Gérald Darmanin has something to do with it. Last May, the Minister of the Interior declared that the head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, was “unable to solve the migration problems”. What had particularly annoyed, see annoyed, Rome.
The Italian President should therefore use his diplomacy to try to smooth things over with Paris, even if Emmanuel Macron’s entourage acts as if nothing had happened. “Everything is fine” assures an adviser. “There was never any problem between the President and Giorgia Meloni. The dissensions were not at their levels.” Still, the head of the Italian government has never come to the Elysee Palace since her accession to power last October. “She will come” assures a close friend of Emmanuel Macron, without however risking giving a date, or even a period.