France's Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin stated on Thursday that the Italian far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is "incapable of solving [the country's] migration problems."
Darmanin's comments come as Italy is set to experience a record number of migrant arrivals through the Mediterranean. The Italian government declared a six-month state of emergency on immigration in late April following a “sharp rise” in arrivals.
The situation has led to an ongoing predicament at the French-Italian border, with the French government sending 150 police officers to the city of Menton to face the influx of migrants coming from Italy. French police has been found on numerous occasions to have illegally pushed back migrants attempting to reach its territory, often resorting to violence.
Minister maligns Meloni
Darmanin explained on the French-Monégasque radio station RMC that the migrants had originally come from Tunisia due to their authoritarian president Kais Saied targeting the country's undocumented migrants. However, this has created a problematic situation which Italy is "incapable of managing" according to Darmanin.
The French Minister criticised Meloni's far-right government for failing to solve "migration problems." He concluded that "she was elected on the basis of what you see is what get, however what we can see now is that immigration has not stopped but is instead increasing."
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Darmanin's comments seem to have already triggered a renewed diplomatic crisis, as Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani cancelled a planned meeting with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna. In a tweet, he described Darmanin's remarks as "unacceptable".
Relations between the two countries were already strained after the Italian Prime Minister refused to let the humanitarian ship of the NGO SOS Méditerranée dock in November, with the ship eventually being welcomed in the city of Toulon instead.
