Fresh French attack on Meloni is unacceptable says Salvini
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Loading... - Mateo Santino
- 10 May 2023
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Deputy Premier, Transport Minister and rightwing League party leader Matteo Salvini vehemently rejected the recent criticism of Premier Giorgia Meloni's migration policies by Stéphane Séjourné, the secretary general of French President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party. Salvini denounced the attack as "unacceptable and offensive" and stated that France has no right to criticize Italy's migrant policies. Séjourné had accused Meloni of promoting unjust, inhuman, and ineffective policies towards illegal immigration. This latest development comes in the wake of a recent diplomatic row between Italy and France, which began after French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin questioned Meloni's ability to address the migrant issue in Italy. In response, Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceled his trip to Paris to meet his French counterpart Catherine Colonna in protest. Tajani had previously criticized the French government's actions, but later acknowledged that Paris had recognized the seriousness of his claims.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called for peaceful dialogue between the two countries. This latest spat over migration is not the first between Italy and France, with the two countries having clashed previously over an NGO-run migrant boat that ended up in France last November. Italy has experienced a significant increase in the number of migrants and refugees arriving from North Africa by sea this year, and Rome has been urging the EU to take more responsibility for the migrant crisis and to protect the external borders of the EU. Meloni's government has also enacted legislation to regulate the activities of NGO-run migrant rescue ships operating in the Mediterranean. Salvini responded to Séjourné's criticism on Twitter, saying that France should show more respect for the Italian government and refrain from making offensive comments. (ANSA).
