Macron And Meloni Postponed Their First High-level Summit

• 22.02.2026, 12:34

At the initiative of the Italian Prime Minister.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron have postponed a major Franco-Italian summit that was scheduled for early April in Toulouse.

A French diplomat told the publication Politico.

He said Meloni asked Macron to postpone the bilateral summit until after the G7 summit, which will be held June 15-17. The Italian prime minister made the request on February 12 when the two leaders met at a competitiveness retreat in Belgium.

The diplomat stressed that the postponement of the summit was unrelated to the recent public dispute between the leaders this week.

The planned summit in Toulouse was meant to be a showcase of Franco-Italian friendship and an attempt to repair strained cross-border relations. The meeting was expected to bring together the two leaders and key ministers to discuss shared political priorities.

France and Italy have not held high-level summits since 2020, when then-Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte met Macron in Naples.

Macron and Meloni have repeatedly clashed over issues ranging from migration to the rule of law.

Tensions escalated again last Thursday when Macron criticized Meloni for her remarks that the killing of 23-year-old far-right activist Quentin Derank in Lyon last weekend was a "wound for all of Europe."

Meloni said she was surprised by Macron's reaction, clarified that she had not intended to interfere in France's internal affairs, and responded by recalling previous controversies - notably the French government's announcement of its intention to monitor the rule of law in Italy days after her election victory.

In recent weeks, meanwhile, Meloni has been growing closer to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The two held a bilateral summit in Rome last month and advocated a more trade-friendly economic agenda, less focused on the French promotion of "Made in Europe" rules.