Macron To Meet Italian President, Head Of New Cabinet In Rome On Wednesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2019) French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Rome on Wednesday to become the first foreign leader who will meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte after Italy got a new government following the collapse of the parliamentary coalition between the Five Star Movement and Lega parties.

The relationship between Macron and the last Italian government was marked with mutual animosity and lack of common ground. The main point of contention between two governments was the issue of migration, specifically recent waves of migrants from Africa and the middle East.

Under the previous interior minister and Lega's leader Matteo Salvini Italy adopted a restrictionist migration policy, closing its ports to migrant-carrying vessels, prosecuting members of non-governmental organizations that specialized on picking up migrant boats stranded in the Mediterranean, accusing them of human trafficking, which prompted criticism from the French President. Salvini, in return, accused Macron of trying to impose his will on Italy, lambasting his migration initiatives, including a joint Franco-German plan to resettle incoming migrants throughout the European Union.

Since Salvini's tenure as the interior minister is over due to the recent political change, there is an opportunity to mend relations between two countries which is what this visit will likely to be about.