After Zelensky's visit to Paris, tensions escalate between Italy and France (2024)

Three months after Giorgia Meloni came to power the bilateral relationship between Rome and Paris has become even more tense, now over the issue of Ukraine. On Thursday, February 9, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has distinguished herself by her unwavering support for Kyiv since coming to power, described the previous day's meeting in Paris between Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as "inopportune." According to her, the three-way meeting, to which Italy was not invited, was a challenge to "European unity." Meloni spoke, to the great astonishment of French diplomats, upon her arrival at the European Council convened in Brussels, in the presence of the Ukrainian president.

"A meeting with France and Germany a few hours before a European Council with Zelensky weakens European support for Ukraine," a source close to the Italian prime minister said. "It is not Italy that is isolated, but France and Germany who, with this decision, isolate themselves from the other 25 member states." From Rome's point of view, the format of Wednesday's meeting contrasts with the one desired in June 2022 by Emmanuel Macron, who invited Meloni's predecessor, Mario Draghi, to a joint trip to Kyiv with Scholz. The desire for a close partnership between Italy and France at the highest level in the matter of the current conflict did not survive the political changeover in Italy in October, when the governing coalition led by Meloni's party, Fratelli d'Italia (far right), came to power.

"I think we are doing our job (...). I think President Zelensky can also make a decision on the format he prefers," replied the French president. The episode gives the impression that Meloni has been sidelined, a boon for her political opponents in Italy. Marked by the presence in the European capital of Volodomyr Zelensky, after his surprise visits to London and Paris the day before, the summit nevertheless gave rise to lively discussions on economic and migration issues, on which Italy has been seeking support for months.

'A desire for recognition'

After the cooling of their relations caused by the aggressive stance of the coalition in power in Rome on migration issues, the Ukrainian issue offered Italy and France a subject on which they could agree. On January 27, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu met in Rome with his counterpart Guido Crosetto to finalize the announcement of the joint delivery to Kyiv of a SAMP-T anti-aircraft and anti-missile system, built by the Franco-Italian consortium Eurosam. A joint decision that Emmanuel Macron welcomed on Thursday evening.

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