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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has publicly criticized France for its hypocritical approach to the issue of migrants coming in from Africa - the controversy has become a point of contention between the two countries within the past weeks, especially after Paris rejected a ship full of African migrants, turning it back.  

Meloni, in response, turned to expose Paris' colonial policies in Burkina Faso, which has for long suffered from French colonialism and imperialist violence. 

In a televised interview, Meloni presented a picture of an African child working in a gold mine in Burkina Faso, contending that France prints colonial gold money for the country - but "in return demands that 50 percent of everything that Burkina Faso exports end up in the coffers of the French treasury."

MELONI: "This is called the CFA franc. It is the colonial currency that France prints for 14 African nations, to which it applies seigniorage and by virtue of which it exploits the resources of these nations..." pic.twitter.com/FugRAYmZs1

— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) November 18, 2022

"The gold that this child goes down a tunnel to extract mostly ends up in the coffers of the French state," the Italian prime minister said.

Meloni added, "So, the solution [to the migrant issue] is not to take the Africans and bring them to Europe. The solution is to free Africa from certain Europeans who exploit it and allow these people to live off what they have."

This wouldn't be the first time Meloni drags Macron for his exploitative policies in Africa, calling them "disgusting."

Italy's new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is heavily criticizing #France and #Macron. It seems that everyone is getting to understand what kind of a guy Macron is.

pic.twitter.com/8t0jJpGFzv

— Rufat Abas (@RufatAbas) November 13, 2022

France's Interior Minister has slammed Rome for banning the vessel which had been stuck off the coast of Sicily for days, calling it "reprehensible" and "selfish."

Darmanin warned that "it is obvious that there will be extremely severe consequences for bilateral relations" with Italy.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on November 10 that "France's reaction to the request to take in 234 migrants, while Italy has taken in 90,000 this year alone, is totally incomprehensible in the face of constant calls for solidarity."

Italy and Spain host the most migrants out of the rest of the European countries. 

Read next: France, UK sign new deal to thwart migrant Channel crossings