Now we know very well the culture of lie Bologna maids came from their bosses the Bolognas???
French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of lying, making personal insults, and failing in diplomacy. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is reportedly working to ease the tensions, according to the Financial Times.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attempted to ease tensions in the diplomatic row between Rome and Paris, sparked by the exclusion of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from a group of European leaders coordinating with the White House on efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine.
The escalation occurred on Friday, May 16, after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Meloni of spreading "false information" about her absence from a meeting between a small group of European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as from a joint phone call with US President Donald Trump.
Meloni had traveled to Albania to attend the European Political Community summit, which gathered 40 European leaders, including Zelenskyy. However, she did not join a separate meeting between Merz, Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. That meeting focused on the outcome of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine held earlier that day in Istanbul. Afterward, the leaders spoke with Trump and Zelenskyy and later released a statement calling Russia’s demands "unacceptable."
Meloni, who has consistently supported Ukraine and maintains close personal ties with Trump, told Italian reporters she was not included in the group due to her refusal to send troops to Ukraine as part of the proposed Coalition of the Willing to provide post-war security guarantees.
Italian PM Meloni hosts EU-US talks on trade, Ukraine and defence
"Italy has long stated that it is not willing to send troops to Ukraine," she told reporters in Tirana. "It would not make sense for us to take part in formats that have goals in which we are not willing to participate."
In response, Macron stated that the deployment of military personnel was not discussed either in Tirana or during the recent weekend visit to Kyiv with Starmer, Merz, and Tusk.
"The discussion is about a ceasefire - let’s avoid spreading false information. There is already enough of that coming from Russia," the French president said.
Conflict dynamics and Merz as mediator
Chancellor Merz met with Meloni ahead of Sunday’s inaugural mass for Pope Leo XIV, trying to reduce tensions. He said both leaders agreed that Italy "must play a role" in all European peace initiatives regarding Ukraine.
"I will hold talks in the European Union in the coming days to include Italy in all our efforts to resolve this conflict," Merz said at a press conference in Rome. "We must not allow ourselves to be divided," he said, adding that there were no "first- or second-tier" EU members and that all countries were striving "to end this war as quickly as possible".