ROME—Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, stoking a war of words between Rome and Paris, said on Jan. 22 that France doesn’t want to bring calm to Libya because its energy interests there clash with those of Italy.
Relations between Italy and France, traditionally close allies, have grown frosty since the right-wing League and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement formed a coalition last year and took aim at pro-EU French President Emmanuel Macron.
A source in Macron’s office dismissed the latest attack as “ludicrous,” while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte sought to ease the escalating tensions, saying relations between the two countries remain strong despite a string of recent rows.
On Jan. 21 France summoned Italy’s ambassador after Salvini’s fellow deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, accused Paris of creating poverty in Africa and generating mass migration to Europe.
Salvini backed Di Maio, saying France was looking to extract wealth from Africa rather than helping countries develop their own economies, and pointed particularly to Libya, which has been in turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that overthrew strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
“In Libya, France has no interest in stabilizing the situation, probably because it has oil interests that are opposed to those of Italy,” Salvini told Canale 5 TV station.
Diplomatic Rupture
Salvini is head of the League, while Di Maio leads 5-Star. Both are campaigning hard for European parliamentary elections in May and are eager to show they have broken with the consensual politics of center-left and center-right parties.The two men have repeatedly targeted neighboring France and accused Macron of doing nothing to help handle the hundreds of thousands of mainly African migrants who have reached Italy from Libya in recent years.
Asked about the latest diplomatic spat, Salvini said on Jan. 22, “France has no reason to get upset because it pushed away tens of thousands of migrants [at the French border], abandoning them there as though they were beasts. We won’t take any lessons on humanity from Macron.”
A French presidential source said populist forces in Italy and elsewhere were looking to undermine countries such as France and Germany which want to strengthen the European Union.
Looking to prevent a diplomatic rupture, the Italian prime minister issued a statement praising relations with Paris, saying that Rome merely wants a debate within Europe on difficult issues such as immigration.
“This [row] does not call into question our historic friendship with France, nor with the French people. This relationship remains strong and steady in spite of any political disputes,” Conte said in a statement.
