Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed French president Emmanuel Macron in the Palazzo Chigi palace in Rome on Tuesday, June 3rd. The two leaders held a three-hour-long discussion before a dinner hosted by Meloni.
The meeting has been widely seen as an effort on the part of Macron, who had requested the meeeting, to mend fences with the Italian premier, who has vocally distanced herself from the French president’s initiative of sending troops to Ukraine.
On that front, nothing seems to have changed. In their joint statement issued after the talks, the two leaders said “Italy and France, dedicated to their role as founding states of the European structure, aim to strengthen their common commitment for a more sovereign, stronger and more prosperous Europe, above all for peace.”
Italy and France also reaffirmed that “continued unwavering support … for Ukraine is even more necessary to achieve a just and lasting solution” to the war.
Meloni and Macron also agreed “to coordinate their efforts in European mobilisation and action” as well as seek complementarity in their relationship with the Trump administration.
Macron’s office, meanwhile, had said that Italy was “an important partner” with “a crucial role to play in European decisions,” particularly in the Ukrainian conflict. The two leaders were showing they were “capable of moving forwards together on the essential,” the French presidency added.
