Italy PM Meloni not happy on being excluded from Zelenskyy-Macron-Scholz dinner in Paris

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy's UK and France visit which followed with him addressing a European Parliament summit in Brussels on Thursday, has sparked a fresh divide between Paris and Rome as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called it "inappropriate". Meloni was referring to the late night dinner French President Emmanuel Macron hosted for Zelenskyy and had invited neighbouring Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Élysée Palace in Paris, but not the Italian leader.

While speaking to the press, as she attended Thursday's EU summit, Meloni, the first female leader of her country, said that this move by Macron was undermining the EU's solidarity with Ukraine and was emcouraged by the French leader's attempt to distract his public from their domestic issues, particularly the protests and unrests that have been caused by his proposed pension reforms. 

“I believe our strength on this issue is our unity,” Meloni said in Brussels where she attended an EU summit with Zelenskyy on Thursday. “I understand the pressures of internal politics but there are times when catering to one’s own domestic opinion risks detriment to the cause. I think this was one of those cases,” she added.

Asked if a joint visit of the French and German finance ministers to Washington, without their Italian counterpart, was appropriate, she said: “What seems to me the most inappropriate was yesterday’s invitation to Zelenskyy.”

After a "very fruitful" meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday, Zelenskyy flew to Paris on the same day for dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor.

Zelenskyy was greeted Wednesday night on the steps of the Elysee Palace with a friendly embrace by Macron, and then all three leaders headed inside. The visit marks a turnaround in Zelenskyy’s relations toward France and Germany, which earlier in the war were viewed by many in Ukraine as not doing enough to help.

“Ukraine can count on France, its European partners and allies to win the war. Russia cannot and must not win,” Macron said before their working dinner. Macron’s office put out a statement confirming that Zelenskyy would attend Thursday’s summit in Brussels, where EU leaders will pledge their support for the Ukrainian people.

Zelenskyy’s travel to European capitals on Wednesday was just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022. In December, he travelled to Washington to meet with President Joe Biden and address the US Congress.

Macron presented Zelenskyy with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the highest award that a French president can give out. Macron pushed back against Meloni’s claims on Thursday, noting that France and Germany had worked together to try to bring peace to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and started orchestrating a proxy war in the Donbas.

“I wanted to welcome Zelenskyy with Chancellor Olaf Scholz,” Macron said when asked about Meloni’s critique of not being at the meeting. “Germany and France have had a particular role for the past eight years on this question,” he added.

He added that it was also “up to Zelenskyy to choose formats” of his meetings.