Franco-Italian relations: Migration casts shadow over talks between Macron, Meloni

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00:00 They've met several times in recent months, but always on the sidelines of international summits.

00:05 This time, Italian leader Giorgio Meloni is on an official visit to the Elysee Palace.

00:11 On the agenda, the application of a bilateral cooperation treaty between Paris and Rome

00:16 signed by Meloni's predecessor and their joint support of Ukraine,

00:20 emphasized by Emmanuel Macron.

00:22 "I am pleased to announce, along with my Italian colleague Giorgio Meloni,

00:26 that the French-Italian SAMPT air defense system is now deployed and operational in Ukraine,

00:32 where it is protecting key installations and lives."

00:34 The visit is above all an attempt to repair the country's ties,

00:40 frayed by a series of disagreements over immigration.

00:43 The last run-in at the start of May saw Italy's foreign affairs minister cancel a visit to Paris,

00:48 after France's interior minister said Giorgio Meloni's government

00:52 was incapable of resolving migration problems.

00:56 The far-right Meloni made her stance clear just several weeks after coming to power,

01:00 when in November she refused to allow a migrant ship carrying 230 people to dock in Italy.

01:06 France accepted the ship, but retaliated by suspending plans to welcome 3,500 migrants from

01:13 Italy — an attitude criticized at the time by Meloni, who's calling for a more even distribution

01:19 of refugees throughout Europe.

01:24 "I've been very struck by the French government's aggressive reaction.

01:28 Since the start of this year, Italy has received on its national territory almost 90,000 migrants."

01:36 Earlier this month, European countries agreed on a strict reform of their asylum laws,

01:46 including fines for countries that refuse to host asylum seekers.

01:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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