French government spokesman Olivier
Véran on Friday played down the latest spat between France and
Italy over migration management, saying Interior Minister Gérald
Darmanin had "no desire to ostracize Italy".
On Thursday Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani
cancelled a trip to Paris to see his French counterpart
Catherine Colonna after Darmanin said earlier in the day that
Premier Giorgia Meloni was incapable of solving Italy's migrant
problems.
Tajani described the comments as "unacceptable".
"There was no desire to ostracize Italy in any way and I want to
reassure the Italians who are watching us," Véran told CNews on
Friday, adding that he did not want to make it "a political
controversy".
The spokesperson said Paris continues "to work with the
Italians", who "want to be left (free) to make their own
choices".
"That's perfectly fine because we are not going to do
otherwise," continued Véran, adding that Italy "admits many,
most of the (migrant) boats" and "then we work systematically
with the Italians on redistribution rules."
"So, we are intimately linked by our history, by our economic,
social, cultural, but also migratory challenges," he concluded.
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