The latest row adds to tensions between the Italian authorities and France,which have on several occasions clashed over the issue of refugees and illegal migration in recent months.
Italy’s Ambassador to France Teresa Castaldo was summoned on Monday by European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau’s chief of staff after Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused Paris of being responsible for the migrant crisis.
Speaking on Saturday, Di Maio, who leads the Five Star Movement, suggested that France was exploiting Africa and fuelling migration.
According to Di Maio, “if France didn’t have its African colonies, because that’s what they should be called, it would be the 15th largest world economy. Instead it’s among the first, exactly because of what it is doing in Africa”.
Despite the Italian envoy being summoned, Di Maio refused to back down, and doubled down on his previous remarks, saying that Paris was manipulating the economies of 14 African nations that use the CFA franc – a currency backed by the French treasury.
The rift between France and Italy first erupted last summer after Rome refused to accept hundreds of undocumented migrants rescued at sea. Reacting to the Italian government’s decision, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Rome of an “irresponsible” and “cynical” response to the crisis over the Aquarius vessel.
Italy, on the other hand, summoned the French ambassador, while Interior Minister Matteo Salvini demanded that Macron apologise.
In addition, Salvini took a dig at Macron, having branded the French president a “problem for the French people” in an apparent reference to the yellow vests protests that have been raging across France since mid-November.
Italy’s coalition government has taken a hard-line approach on migration, insisting on the pressing need to renegotiate the so-called Dublin rule, which requires that would-be refugees file for asylum in the first EU member-state they arrive in.