Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday considered French President Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to travel to Paris on Wednesday “inappropriate”.
A break in the European “unity”?
Asked about the advisability of the trip to Washington at the beginning of the week by the French and German economy ministers, Giorgia Meloni responded on her arrival at the EU summit in Brussels: “Yesterday’s invitation to Zelensky seemed more inappropriate because I think that our strength in this story is unity”.
“I understand internal political issues, privileging one’s own internal public opinions, but there are times when privileging those opinions may not be favorable to the cause and it seems to me that this has been the case,” with Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Paris this Wednesday. , who was joined at the Élysée Palace by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Emmanuel Macron’s dry response
According to the Italian media, Giorgia Meloni took it badly not to have been invited to this dinner on Wednesday night that brought together Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky and Olaf Scholz. The French president and the head of the Italian government have quite tense relations, especially on the issue of immigrants.
Asked about these statements by Giorgia Meloni, Emmanuel Macron replied: “I have no comment to make.” “I wanted to receive you, President Zelensky, with Chancellor Scholz, I think we are in our role (…). I think it is up to President Zelensky to also appreciate the formats that he chooses, ”added the French president.
“What matters is that we are collectively effective and that we have a strategy that allows us to find a lasting peace, that is, a peace that respects Ukraine in its rights and its borders, a peace that respects justice in view of the crimes that have been committed and a peace that allows us to build a lasting security framework for our Europe”, he concluded.
Source: BFM TV
