Tensions between the neighbors have risen as Rome has accused Paris of hypocrisy by refusing to take in a fair share of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have reached Italy by boat since 2014.
FRENCH POLICE DUMPED TWO AFRICAN REFUGEES
On Friday, witnesses reported seeing a French police van cross the mountain border at Claviere, near the Italian ski resort of Sestriere, and making two black men get out in a wooded area before driving back the short distance to France.
Italy demanded explanations from France and on Monday French media quoted the head of the Hautes-Alpes region that flanks Italy as acknowledging that its police had crossed the border, calling the incursion “an error”.
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Salvini, who serves as interior minister and is also head of the far-right League, dismissed the explanation and demanded to know the identities of the two men, who he said were migrants.
“What happened in Claviere represents an unprecedented offense against our country,” Salvini wrote on Facebook. “We are facing an international disgrace, and Macron cannot pretend nothing has happened. We cannot tolerate irregularities in the use of public money, even under the excuse of spending it for migrants,” said Salvini.
Macron has denounced Salvini’s anti-immigrant policies, telling reporters in August that he represented the “main opponent” in Europe to nationalists like Salvini.