Meloni, Macron meet on sidelines of G7 summit

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 20 - Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and French Emmanuel Macron had a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan on Saturday.
    The encounter comes after Macron expressed solidarity for Italy following this week's deadly floods in Emilia Romagna via Twitter and said France was "ready to provide all useful assistance".
    It is the first face-to-face encounter between the leaders since they met at the European Council in Brussels two months ago.
    In the meantime there has been tension between Rome and Paris stemming from French officials' criticism of the Italian government.
    This started with French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin saying Meloni was incapable of solving the migrant problems she had campaigned on.
    Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani subsequently cancelled a trip to Paris to see his counterpart Catherine Colonna in protest at the attack.
    Stéphane Séjourné, the secretary general of French President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, then weighed in, saying "Meloni does lots of rabble-rousing on illegal immigration: her policies are unjust, inhuman and ineffective".
    Meloni, however, dismissed the comments, saying Séjourné was trying to use Italy for domestic political purposes. (ANSA).