In Rome, following the funeral of the former President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, the French President met this Tuesday, September 26, with the head of the Italian government, while France is pushing back more than 250 people every day at its border with Italy.
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Between Rome and Paris, something may be moving. First there was the opening ofEmmanuel Macron Sunday September 24 on French television. “ We must not leave the Italians alone », Launched the French president with a series of proposals to combat smuggling networks in Africa. Ideas considered interesting by Giorgia Meloni who wants to present to Europeans a vast investment plan in Africa and a pact for rapid repatriations.
This afternoon in Rome, for a little over an hour, the two leaders, one-on-one, sought to bring their points of view closer togetherin preparation for the major European summits in October, reports our correspondent in Rome, Anne Tréca. An informal face-to-face meeting, without delegation, to seek a common response to the influx of migrants. Their interview, long and cordial “, made it possible to address “ the main international issues », indicated the services of Giorgia Meloni in a press release. They will meet again on Friday in Malta on the occasion of the 10th summit of the southern countries of the European Union before an informal meeting of the European Council on October 4 in Granada (Spain).
Relations between Paris and Rome were strained in November 2022, when Italy refused to welcome the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking and the 230 migrants on board, pushing Paris to let it dock in Toulon, while denouncing the behavior “ unacceptable ” from Rome.
A tense situation with Germany
But at the same time, Italy is getting angry with its other biggest partner. Rome brings its funding closer to Germany for rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean. Matteo Salvini’s League is unleashed. We are far from the triangular Paris-Rome-Berlin rapprochement hoped for a few weeks ago.
The number of arrivals in Italy on boats from North Africa has increased, with more than 133,000 migrants registered so far this year, compared to almost 70,000 for the same period in 2022. The figures have not However, not yet exceeded those of 2016, when more than 181,000 people, many of them Syrians fleeing the war, reached Italy.
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