PARIS
\nFrance summoned the Italian ambassador after Italy\u2019s deputy prime minister challenged the French president for suggesting that European soldiers be deployed in Ukraine in a post-war settlement, a French diplomatic source said on Saturday.
\nAsked earlier this week to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s appeals to deploy European soldiers in Ukraine after any settlement with Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini used a Milanese dialect phrase loosely translatable as \u201cget lost.\u201d
\n\u201cYou go there if you want. Put your helmet on, your jacket, your rifle and you go to Ukraine,\u201d he told reporters, referring to Macron.
\nSalvini, the populist leader of the right-wing League party and also Italy\u2019s transport minister in the nationalist, conservative government led by Giorgia Meloni, has repeatedly criticized Macron, especially over Ukraine.
\nThe Italian ambassador was summoned on Friday, the diplomatic source said, marking the latest in a series of diplomatic clashes between Paris and Rome before and after Meloni took power in 2022.
\n\u201cThe ambassador was reminded that these remarks ran counter to the climate of trust and the historical relationship between our two countries, as well as to recent bilateral developments, which have highlighted strong convergences between the two countries, particularly with regard to unwavering support for Ukraine,\u201d the source said.
\nMacron, a vocal supporter of Ukraine over its war with Russia, has been working with other world leaders, notably British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to mobilize support for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS France summoned the Italian ambassador after Italy\u2019s deputy prime minister challenged the French president for suggesting that European soldiers be deployed in Ukraine in a post-war settlement, a French diplomatic source said on Saturday. Asked earlier this week to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s appeals to deploy European soldiers in Ukraine after any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-498671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n