Paris: On Friday, the French government attempted to downplay a new dispute with Italy over immigration by claiming that Paris was not seeking to "ostracise" its EU partner or Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister.

Italy's foreign minister postponed a trip to Paris on Thursday due to what he called Gerald Darmanin's "unacceptable" remarks that Meloni was "incapable" of handling her country's immigration crisis.

According to French government spokesman Olivier Veran on Friday, the interior minister had no desire to isolate Italy in any way. "We are still collaborating with the Italians."

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We have discussions with Italians because they enjoy politics, but they insist on doing things their own way and want other people to support them in doing so, he continued.
And that's good because we have no intention of acting differently.

According to Italian media reports on Friday, Rome was incensed by Darmanin's outburst, and Meloni was reportedly considering postponing a trip to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Asserting that Darmanin's comments were "a stab in the back" in a television interview on Thursday, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said he was waiting for Darmanin to "apologise to the prime minister, the government, and Italy."

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The least they could do, according to Tajani, who reiterated his demand for an apology on Friday. In a conversation with Il Corriere della Sera, he also referred to Darmanin's comment as "gratuitous and vulgar insult towards a friendly and allied country."

The management of their shared land border and the admission of aid boats carrying migrants who were saved while attempting to cross the Mediterranean have been the subject of frequent disputes between the governments of France and Italy in recent years.

In a different interview on Friday, Macron ally and current French Transport Minister Clement Beaune was less amenable than Veran.

He emphasised the political differences between Macron's pro-EU centrist cabinet and Meloni's right-wing administration. According to Beaune of Europe 1 radio, "There is no solution to the migration issue that does not include European cooperation."

"And you can see that every time there's an attempt to go it alone, whichever country it is, it doesn't work," he continued.

In a separate statement on Friday, the head of France's immigration agency, OFII, claimed that nearly half of the migrants who arrived on the Italian Mediterranean coast were from French-speaking sub-Saharan nations.

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According to OFII director Didier Leschi, the majority of those French-speaking immigrants were from the Ivory Coast.
According to Leschi, many of the arrivals went directly to France and were infrequently properly registered by Italian authorities.

Because of this, there are significant tensions between the two nations, he said.
In accordance with EU regulations, he said, migrants must first register in their country of origin before discussions about which migrants should be sent to which EU member country.
"Improving the burden distribution across the EU is urgent," he declared.