Since far-right Giorgia Meloni came to power in Italy last fall, relations between the country and France have been strained, with immigration a focus of conflict. The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, opened the wound in bilateral relations last week by assuring that Meloni is incapable of managing the problem in her country and by comparing her to the French far-right Marine Le Pen.

The problems on the border that these countries share come from behind and Darmanin’s statements add fuel to the fire. The last crisis was in November, when Paris agreed to host the Ocean Viking ship, blocked in the Mediterranean with 230 immigrants on board, after Italy rejected it at its port, where other ships had already disembarked without papers.

Then France accused the neighboring country of having “unacceptable behavior”, while Meloni called Paris’s reaction “aggressive and unjustified”. “Italy has been very inhumane, the Italian authorities have been unprofessional and have left this ship blocked for 20 days without making a decision,” Darmanin denounced then.

Now he accuses Meloni of being incapable of solving the immigration problem. He also blames him for part of the flows that arrive in France, because, according to him, they are immigrants who arrive from Tunisia “and cross through Italy.”

In reality, when he criticizes Meloni Darmanin, he responds to Jordan Bardella, president of National Regroupment, Le Pen’s party, who accused the government these days of not controlling the explosion of immigrant arrivals. Although the lack of harmony between Paris and Rome does not only have to do with the migratory pressure. At a time when the extreme right is gaining more and more ground in France, the Macron government sees in Meloni an ally of Le Pen.

The Italian foreign minister canceled his planned visit to Paris on Thursday and apologized for this “gratuitous and vulgar insult.” These have not yet arrived, although, to avoid a major diplomatic crisis, several government ministers have tried to soften Darmanin’s words. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, has tried to lower the tone by assuring that Italy “is an essential partner of France” and that the relationship is based “on mutual respect”: “We are going to privilege consultation and peaceful dialogue to continue working together,” he said.

Italy has declared a state of emergency due to the increase in arrivals of immigrants to its shores, which are the main gateway for immigrants trying to reach Europe. France denounces that part of these illegals try to cross into the country through the Alps.

Darmanin’s immigration law contemplated increasing the number of troops at the Franco-Italian border by 150 to deal with migratory pressure. The law was to be debated in Parliament these weeks but has been postponed until autumn due to lack of parliamentary support.

Since the beginning of the year, the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture, where the border is, has registered 2,600 arrests of people without a residence permit. The president of the Senate reminded Darmanin yesterday that France “is not exemplary in terms of immigration and is not there to give lessons.” Precisely, a few weeks ago the operation that Darmanin had launched in Mayotte, overseas department, to dismantle a neighborhood of illegal immigrants failed and was annulled by a court.

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