Battle For Europe - Now Italy Fights France

France and Italy are engaged in a bitter battle for the soul of Europe.

- Anita Pratap

Across the Alps, France and Italy are jostling and jousting to crown their idea of Europe, while destroying the other’s. Italy’s ruling coalition wants its populist, nationalist, anti-establishment, anti-immigration, Eurosceptic vision to proliferate across the continent. French President Emmanuel Macron aims to eradicate populism, which he said was like “leprosy spreading across Europe”. He wants the progressive, liberal avatar of Europe to triumph.

Which of the two visions will conquer Europe’s soul? The answer will be revealed in the May elections to the European parliament. This is ground zero for the fight between Europe’s populists and progressives, between the Europhobes and the Europhiles. Until then, the volume and venom of the verbal attacks will escalate. Said Marc Lazar, professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, “This is a collision of two very different concepts of Europe.”

The collision has consequences. France recalled its ambassador from Rome, an adversarial tactic common enough between India and Pakistan, or Russia and the United States. But it is extraordinary between France and Italy, the European Union’s founding members.

The recall was French retribution for Italy’s “repeated, baseless attacks… without precedent since World War II”, said French official Benjamin Griveaux. Nathalie Tocci, director of the Italian Institute of International Affairs, said such a thing had not happened since 1940 when Italy declared war on France.