ROME, March 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a call for reconciliation with Italy following a diplomatic spat between the neighbours that saw Paris briefly recall its ambassador.
Relations between the two countries have fractured due to repeated clashes between centrist Macron and Italy’s populist coalition government.
In February, Paris recalled ambassador Christian Masset for a week in protest at “unfounded attacks and outlandish claims” by the Italian government.
“There has been intemperate talk. There have been various twists and turns and I think we owe it to our people, to our history and to Europe, to get past that,” Macron said on Sunday on Italian television.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Macron said he would host his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella at Amboise, central France, on May 2 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci “with French and Italian youth”.
“We will talk about the future and Europe,” he added.
The two presidents intend to go “beyond the misunderstandings that can sometimes arise in political or economic life and which are, for me, secondary,” Macron said, without mentioning Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte or other Italian leaders.
With the exception of a question about the planned Lyon-Turin rail link – which he stressed the importance of – Macron did not mention other divisive subjects such as Italian populist leaders’ support of the “yellow vest” protestors in France or the merger between French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique (formerly STX France) and Italy’s Fincantieri. — NNN-AGENCIES