Paris summons the Italian ambassador: "Salvini made unacceptable comments about Macron."
France has summoned the Italian ambassador to Paris, Emanuela D'Alessandro , "following the unacceptable comments" of Matteo Salvini slams Emmanuel Macron for his support for sending troops to Ukraine, AFP reports, citing a diplomatic source.
"The ambassador," summoned on Thursday, "was reminded that these comments are contrary to the climate of trust and historic relations between the two countries, as well as recent bilateral developments that have highlighted strong convergences between the two countries, particularly regarding their unwavering support for Ukraine," the source said.
"In Milan, they'd say taches al tram (hang on to the tram, ed.). Go if you want. Put on your helmet, your jacket, your rifle, and go to Ukraine," Salvini commented on the sidelines of a site visit to Via Bolla in Milan after the French president reiterated his willingness to send troops to ensure peace .
The Deputy Prime Minister also praised Donald Trump's policies, which "with his ways that can sometimes seem brusque or unconventional, is succeeding where everyone else has failed," and criticized the "macronate" plans that, he accused, include "European armies, European rearmament, common European debts to buy missiles."
Salvini during the inspection of Via Bolla in Milan.
The decision and the urgency of summoning the ambassador were likely influenced by the League's deputy prime minister's habit of attacking Macron, whom he has often publicly called a "warmonger" and a "bomber." These terms were also used last Thursday, when, however, the remark about the clear rejection of Italian troops in Ukraine was made with the specific intent of expressing his position "as vice president of the Council, as minister, and as secretary of the League."
The precedentsThe news then flashes back to early March, to record another attack by Salvini against the occupant of the Elysée Palace, once again contesting the idea of a European army: there will never be, the League leader said then, "a European army commanded by that madman Macron who talks about nuclear war." Macron, he said, "desperately needs to give meaning to his still-brief tenure as France's leader. But he shouldn't do it at our expense," he said, contesting the offer of a nuclear umbrella to Kiev.
The chronology doesn't end there. And on other occasions, Salvini has addressed the French president in numerous ways: "hypocrite," "chatterbox," "polite gentleman who drinks too much champagne," "criminal." The escalation began last June when the invitation was: "Put on your helmet, go fight, and stop being a pain in the ass."
La Repubblica
