Tajani Seeks to Ease Salvini-Macron Spat

Rome: Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani at the weekend sought to ease an Italo-French spat caused by allegedly disparaging remarks made by Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini against French President Emmanuel Macron over the latter’s intention to send French troops as part of a multinational force to potentially police a possible future peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.

According to Ansa News Agency, on Friday France summoned Italy’s ambassador to complain about what it termed Salvini’s “unacceptable” mocking of Macron. The rightwing League party leader had said that “if Macron wants to send troops to Ukraine then he should put on a helmet and go himself, go whistle for it”, using a Milanese slang term.

After France’s complaint, Salvini doubled down on his stance saying that Macron was “touchy” allegedly because of record low popularity ratings at home. Tajani said Sunday that Salvini’s remarks should not be allowed to affect Franco-Italian relations stressing that “it is the foreign minister and the prime minister who set foreign policy”.

Premier Giorgia Meloni has repeatedly said that Italy does not want to be part of a French and UK led coalition of the willing to police any Ukraine peace deal. Instead, she says, Kyiv should benefit from an “Article 5-like” security guarantee against any future Russian attack, after a peace deal.

NATO’s Article 5 is the collective defense clause, stipulating that an armed attack against one member state is considered an attack against all members, requiring each other member to take action, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. This cornerstone principle of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been invoked only once in history, following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.