French minister slams Italian PM incapability to solve migrant crisis

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 May 2023 15:38

France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin draws parallels between Meloni and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin at the Elysée in 2022 (AFP)

France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said, on Thursday, that Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni "is incapable of resolving the migration problems" faced by her country, risking a new debacle between Paris and Rome.

During a radio interview in Paris, Gerald Darmanin said Italy faced a "very serious migration crisis," and he drew parallels between Meloni and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

"Madame Meloni, a far-right government chosen by friends of Mme Marine Le Pen, is incapable of resolving the migration problems on the back of which she was elected," Darmanin told RMC radio.

When asked about the arrival of migrants at France's southeastern border with Italy, Darmanin revealed that there was "an influx of migrating people and particularly children."

His statements came on the very day Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was visiting Paris for talks with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna.

The centrist French government under President Emmanuel Macron has grappled repeatedly with far-right Italian cabinets in recent years over migration.

The most recent flare-up of hostilities occurred in November of last year when Meloni resisted allowing a ship carrying 230 migrants for humanitarian reasons to dock in Italy.

The ship was allowed to dock in France, but Paris slammed Rome's "unacceptable" behavior and suspended plans to receive 3,500 migrants from Italy.

At the time, Meloni criticized France's response as "aggressive" and "unjustified".

Relations have since improved, with Macron and Meloni meeting in Brussels in March for negotiations, only for them to possibly take a downturn now after the Minister's statements.