French government spokesman Olivier Véran on Friday played down the latest spat between France and Italy over migration management, saying Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had “no desire to ostracize Italy”.
On Thursday Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani cancelled a trip to Paris to see his French counterpart Catherine Colonna after Darmanin said earlier in the day that Premier Giorgia Meloni was incapable of solving Italy’s migrant problems.
Tajani described the comments as “unacceptable”.
“There was no desire to ostracize Italy in any way and I want to reassure the Italians who are watching us,” Véran told CNews on Friday, adding that he did not want to make it “a political controversy”.
The spokesperson said Paris continues “to work with the Italians”, who “want to be left (free) to make their own choices”.
“That’s perfectly fine because we are not going to do otherwise,” continued Véran, adding that Italy “admits many, most of the (migrant) boats” and “then we work systematically with the Italians on redistribution rules.” “So, we are intimately linked by our history, by our economic, social, cultural, but also migratory challenges,” he concluded.
It was the latest in a series of clashes between Paris and Rome since Meloni took office last October at the head of a nationalist, conservative government which has a very different world vision to that of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Darmanin is very close to Macron and lashed out at Rome last November, accusing Meloni’s government of being “selfish” for refusing to let a charity rescue ship dock in France, forcing it instead to head to France.
Italy has seen a surge in migrant arrivals since Meloni won power last year. More than 42,400 people have landed in Italy so far in 2023, against around 11,220 in the same period last year.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and its coalition partner, the League, pledged a tough crackdown on illegal migrant entries in last year’s election campaign and on Thursday parliament approved a law that toughened prison terms for human traffickers and reduced asylum rights for new arrivals.
