Emmanuel Macron in Rome alongside the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella on his left, Cardinal of Rome Angelo De Donatis and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during the Sant’Egidio Conference in Rome on Sunday October 23, 2022. LUDOVIC MARIN v AFP
Emmanuel Macron and the new President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, met in Rome on Sunday October 23, a few hours after Italy’s most right-wing government took office since 1946. This meeting took place in the center of the Italian capital , on the sidelines of the Sant’Egidio conference attended by the French president and not in an official palace, a French source had told Agence France-Presse (AFP) before the meeting.
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Mr Macron promised to work with Ms Meloni with “dialogue and ambition”. a message he posted on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of the two guides. Shortly before, the French President had thanked the outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi. “Grazie Mario,” he also wrote on Twitter a photo next to the former director the ECB.
As Europeans, in neighboring countries, as friendly peoples, we must continue the work that has begun with Italy. Success… https://t.co/LlMf8KHxQC
The French head of state, who has not congratulated Ms Meloni since her appointment was formalized on Saturday, unlike the German Chancellor, the American President and the representatives of the European institutions, becoming the first foreign head of state to meet the new Italian head of government. However, Paris had been very cautious about the possibility and even the advisability of such a tete-a-tete, as the official reason for Mr Macron’s visit to Rome was a peace speech delivered on Sunday and an audience with Pope Francis scheduled for Monday morning.
Macron “perfectly willing to work with” Meloni
The Italian political context, with the leader of the post-fascist party Fratelli d’Italia coming to power at the head of a far-right-dominated coalition, outweighed these considerations. Indeed, during his previous papal audiences in 2018 and 2021, President Macron had held more or less formal talks with Italian leaders each time. Franco-Italian relations, which were in good shape when Mario Draghi ruled the peninsula, are in danger of slipping through a zone of turbulence with Eurosceptic and sovereign Ms. Meloni.
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A foretaste of those tensions came even before his appointment, when French Secretary of State for European Affairs Laurence Boone warned in early October that France would be “very vigilant to respect the values and rules of the rule of law” in Italy. . “Unacceptable threat of interference,” immediately protested the woman who has now become the first woman to hold the post of head of government in her country.
Emmanuel Macron tried to calm the situation on Friday, assuring that he was “fully willing to work with her”. For her part, Giorgia Meloni made pledges to her European partners, demonstrating her allegiance to NATO and her determination to support Ukraine, while appointing figures she could find reassuring to fill key foreign policy and economic positions.