According to the French presidency, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, and Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, met on Thursday to discuss “potential for cooperation” in the fields of space, industry, and migration. The two leaders discussed “the need to continue to work for European sovereignty” in industrial policy and decarbonization when they met in Brussels on the margins of an EU summit.
In the statement, they also reaffirmed “their resolve to stand by Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and praised the decision struck to give the Ukrainians the ammunition and missiles they need.”
The leaders were gathering for the second occasion since Meloni became the head of Italy’s most right-wing administration in decades in October.
A contentious issue has been the migration policy.Since an event in November 2022 in which Meloni refused to let a humanitarian ship carrying 230 migrants to dock in Italy, migration policy has been a source of contention between the two nations.
France permitted the ship to land, but Paris criticized Rome for its “unacceptable” actions and cancelled preparations to take 3,500 refugees from Italy.
Meloni criticized France’s response at the time, calling it “aggressive” and “unjustified.She criticized Macron’s offer to Volodymyr Zelensky, the counterpart from Ukraine, to visit Paris on the eve of an EU summit in February, calling it “wrong.”
Zelensky and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were later welcomed by Macron at the Elysee Palace, and according to Italian media, Meloni was miffed that she was left out.
The allocation of two billion euros by European leaders to finance joint purchases of artillery ammunition that Ukraine urgently needs to fend off the Russian invasion was approved on Monday.
Ukraine will receive a medium-range ground-to-air defense system from France and Italy to assist it in defending against Russian drone, missile, and aircraft assaults.
