Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s statements on French President Emmanuel Macron have become a diplomatic incident, after Salvini had publicly stated that Macron should go himself to fight in Ukraine if he so badly wants to deploy troops there. It is not the first time that Salvini has addressed Macron with strong and derogative words, but this time the reaction from Paris was stronger. The Quai d’Orsay summoned the Italian ambassador and complained that Salvini’s attacks on Macron threaten to spoil bilateral relations.
Asked by a journalist on Aug. 20 about his view on Macron’s proposal to deploy European troops in Ukraine, Salvini replied with the Italian equivalent of “Go suck an egg.” He said, “‘Attaccati al tram,’ we say in Milan.”
“If Emmanuel Macron wants to, let him go there himself. Put on a helmet, take a rifle and go to Ukraine yourself. No, I think that Trump, with his methods, which sometimes can appear as blunt or informal, is succeeding where everybody else has failed. Therefore, getting Putin and Zelenskyy around a table is something that had not occurred for years. Eventually, it is up to them to decide the point of agreement, but certainly, European armies, European rearmaments, European common debts to buy missiles and various ‘Macronisms’ ... let us not disturb those who are working for peace.”
