Matteo Salvini's comments about Emmanuel Macron have become a diplomatic issue. France has summoned the Italian ambassador to Paris, Emanuela D'Alessandro, following the deputy prime minister's "unacceptable comments" against the French president regarding the Ukrainian issue.
The summons to the Quai d'Orsay, the French Foreign Ministry, came just hours after the League leader, last Thursday, had invited the French president—in Milanese dialect—to "taches al tram," that is, to cling to the tram, polemically urging him to go to Ukraine himself: "Put on your helmet, your jacket, your rifle and go to Ukraine," Salvini had said on the sidelines of a site visit to Via Bolla in Milan, commenting on France's proposal to send troops there.
Salvini had also praised Donald Trump's policies - "With his ways that can sometimes seem brusque or unconventional, he is succeeding where everyone else has failed" - while criticizing instead the "macronate" that foresee, he accused, "European armies, European rearmament, common European debts to buy missiles" .
Hence the diplomatic incident which forced Paris to recall that «these comments are contrary to the climate of trust and historical relations between the two countries, as well as to recent bilateral developments which have highlighted strong convergences, in particular with regard to their unwavering support for Ukraine» .
Perhaps it also played a role that this isn't the League member's first attack on Macron, often publicly labeled a "warmonger" and a "bomber." These terms were also used last Thursday, when, however, that statement about the clear rejection of Italian troops in Ukraine was made, specifying that it was his position "as vice president of the Council, as minister, as secretary of the League."
The news then goes back to the beginning of last March, to record another attack by Salvini against the occupant of the Elysée and, once again, to contest the idea of a European army: there will never be, said the League leader at the time, "a European army commanded by that madman Macron who talks about nuclear war" .
(Unioneonline)