Macron dismisses as insignificant criticisms by far-right Italian officials

During a visit to the Egyptian capital Cairo on Sunday, Macron said he “will not respond” to criticism by Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Minister of Economic Development Luigi Di Maio, both serving as deputy to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Salvini has accused Paris of doing nothing to bring peace to Libya, expressing hope that the French people will soon be free of a “very bad president.”

“I am close, with all my heart and all my work, to the French people, the millions of men and women who live in France with a very bad government and a very bad president,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

Di Maio has also accused the French government of creating poverty in Africa.

Macron, said he “will not respond. That’s what they want (for me to respond)... all of that is of no interest,” adding, “All of this has frankly no importance.”

“The Italian people are our friends and deserve leaders who match their history,” he added.

Last Sunday, Di Maio also accused the Macron government of "impoverishing" Africa and pushing refugees to join Europe through what he called political “colonization.”

In an attempt to prevent a diplomatic rupture with Paris, the Italian PM said on Tuesday that relations between Rome and Paris remained strong.

“This does not call into question our historic friendship with France, nor with the French people,” Conte said in a statement. “This relationship remains strong and steady in spite of any political disputes.”

Ties between France and Italy have, however, grown frosty since last year, when the far-right League of Salvini and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of Di Maio formed a coalition.

The two populist leaders, who have been campaigning hard for European parliamentary elections, have repeatedly accused Macron of doing nothing to help handle the hundreds of thousands of mainly African refugees, who have reached Italy from Libya in recent years.

A source in the French presidential office told Reuters that populist forces in Italy and elsewhere were trying to undermine France as well as Germany, which have played a crucial role in the creation of the bloc.