French far-right politician Marine Le Pen has canceled her planned visit to Italy amid mass riots, sources in Italy's Lega Nord party told journalists on Monday
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2023) French far-right politician Marine Le Pen has canceled her planned visit to Italy amid mass riots, sources in Italy's Lega Nord party told journalists on Monday.
Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Lega Nord and Italian minister of infrastructure and transport, will instead meet with Le Pen via video conference later on Monday, sources said.
"Face to face meeting has been rescheduled in the light of the difficult situation in France," a Lega Nord source said.
Le Pen's National Rally and Lega Nord, along with Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, are members of the Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament.
Salvini's Lega Nord forms a coalition with Forza Italia in the Italian government. The latter has been one of the pillars of the conservative European People's Party (EPP) since 1998.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who has formally replaced deceased Silvio Berlusconi as leader of Forza Italia, ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the French and German far-right parties.
"I want to be very clear, speaking also as as a vice president of the EPP. It is impossible to come to any agreement with AfD and madame Le Pen's party," Tajani told the Rai3 tv channel.
France has been gripped by mass protests over the past few days. On June 27, a police officer in the Paris suburb of Nanterre shot dead a 17-year-old who reportedly refused to obey their orders during a driver's license check, sparking several days of rioting in a number of French cities.
