Italy and France: Used to Be Friends… or is it Suddenly not so?

... May 2019 are fraught with another conflict between two EU founding states. In October 2018, Matteo Salvini and the leader of France’s National Rally Marine Le Pen announced they were pooling their efforts at the European elections. Le Pen said that Matteo Salvini and she are not “fighting against Europe but against the European Union that has become a totalitarian system.” This is certainly one of the chief irritating factors in the relations between Rome and Paris. While Emmanuel Macron proposes an “Initiative for Europe” and urges a new stage in EU integration, the Italian government, in essence, openly supports his chief opponent and rival. It is obvious that under such circumstances, it is simply impossible to ...