Merz tries to quell Meloni-Macron spat over Ukraine

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has sought to cool a bitter diplomatic row between Rome and Paris over Italian premier Giorgia Meloni’s exclusion from a group of European leaders coordinating with the White House over Ukraine, Report informs via Financial Times.

Tensions erupted on Friday as French President Emmanuel Macron accused Meloni of spreading “false information” about her not taking part in a small group of European leaders meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and having a joint call with Donald Trump. Meloni had travelled to Albania for a European Political Community summit attended by 40 European leaders, including Zelenskyy.

But she did not join Merz, Macron, Sir Keir Starmer of the UK, and Poland’s Donald Tusk for a breakout meeting where they discussed the outcome of the Russia-Ukraine peace talks that took place in Istanbul that day.

The Italian premier, who has been a staunch supporter of Kyiv and also has a strong personal rapport with Trump, told Italian journalists she was not included because of her refusal to send troops to Ukraine as part of a proposed “coalition of the willing” to provide security after any peace deal. “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.” But Macron said troop deployments had not been discussed either in Tirana or in Kyiv last weekend, where he travelled with Starmer, Merz, and Tusk — and without Meloni. “The discussion is about a ceasefire," the French president said.