French minister Colonna signs peace with Italy on migrants: “Now common answers”

“Italy is a friendly country, to which many things bind us, including mutual affection. And when there are sensitive issues, we need to talk about them openly and in a friendly way“. The Foreign Minister of Paris thinks about throwing water on the fire with respect to relations between Italy and France, Catherine Colonnawho granted an interview to Corriere della Sera on the day she was received by her counterpart in Rome, Antonio Tajani. The two had planned a dinner in France, in early May: a dinner that was later skipped due to the attacks that the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin directed at Italy on the management of migrants, deeming the Meloni government “incapable” of managing the phenomenon.

Now Colonna, who has always represented the dialogue wing of the transalpine government, explains how his visit is not “only of an institutional nature, but concerns our common work. And on all the issues we have tried to make progress”. This is because, as Colonna goes on to explain further, “all members of the French government, each with their own words, know that we will better face any difficulty with greater Franco-Italian cooperation, starting with the migration issue“. The goal is also to recover the rationale and spirit of the Quirinal Treaty, signed at the time of the Draghi government, and which provided for greater collaboration between Rome and Paris on matters that concern the two countries. An agreement which, according to Minister Colonna, “we must keep alive, with the same zeal and positive spirit on both sides”.

But how can the migration issue be tackled concretely? On the French side, it is quite clear that the problem lies in the instability of Tunisia, a reading that brings the Elysium very close to Palazzo Chigi, given that the Italian government has been among the most active subjects in requesting that international attention be paid to the chaos in Tunis, involving supranational institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. From this point of view, explains Colonna, “we must increase our cooperation with Tunisia through the European channel and also through reciprocal bilateral relations with Tunisia, which we have an interest in coordinating well”.

The fact is that the solution does not lie in running forward, or in believing that the game can be played alone, but only at a European level. “We have a European Council in June and our shared ambition is to address it with a new step forward in the rapprochement of positions. We must keep this timetable in mind and use it to move forward. There are no national solutions. The solution lies in our cooperation between us “.