Meloni and Macron Mend Ties at Summit After Trump Feud

Meloni has a long record of bitter clashes with Macron and, as recently as January, was prioritizing bilateral ties with Germany. Giving the cold shoulder to France, she and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz used a summit in Rome to style themselves as the transatlanticist leaders who could form the EU’s bridge to Trump.

The Italian-German love-in at Rome’s opulent Villa Doria Pamphilj came at a moment of frustration with French opposition to the landmark Mercosur trade deal with South America, which Merz and Meloni thought was vital to boost European industry.

That dynamic has now changed dramatically.

Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, Meloni is taking a more confrontational approach to Trump, and the relationship exploded into a spectacular and highly personal feud last week. In line with Macron’s pro-European vision, she now appears more willing to establish some distance with the U.S.

At the long-planned summit in Antibes, nearly 20 ministers from Italy and France — accompanied by top business leaders — will mark the Franco-Italian truce with about a dozen bilateral transalpine pacts.

“When it comes to Trump, I believe that recent events can help even more for a productive summit between France and Italy in Antibes,” said Sandro Gozi, a European lawmaker from Macron’s Renew party. He accused Meloni of having been “a vassal” of Trump until now, and of being “anti-French.”

For years, Macron and Meloni had a rocky relationship, with clashes on numerous issues, spanning from migration to abortion rights and the killing of a far-right activist earlier this year.

“Shortly after Meloni’s election in 2022, Macron tried to build bridges with the Italian leader, but Meloni showed little interest,” said one former senior French official, who was in office at the time and was granted anonymity to talk freely.

“But the recent spat between Meloni and Trump clearly gives the French and Italian leaders an opportunity to get closer,” the former official added.

Back to basics

Between a stroll to the Antibes’ Picasso museum and a visit to a Franco-Italian satellite maker, Meloni, Macron, their ministers and the CEOs will sign a flurry of deals, including one on civil nuclear power — with a focus on using small French reactors — and an agreement on a joint space venture between Airbus, Leonardo and Thales, according to Macron’s office.

One of the key priorities of the get-together on the Baie des Anges is for France and Italy to build closer ties on defense. This comes just days after a major blow to the Franco-German relationship, with Paris and Berlin abandoning years-long negotiations to jointly build a next-generation fighter jet.

Paris and Rome will not only sign a 2025 to 2031 bilateral defense roadmap and a joint strategy to guarantee security in the Mediterranean, but will also make announcements on the production of Aster interceptor missiles and a Franco-Italian air defense system.

Other agreements will strengthen the protection of regional foods from the EU’s two great gastronomic nations, boost Franco-Italian infrastructure — including the controversial Lyon-Turin transalpine train line — foster cooperation in protecting the sea and cultural heritage and even increase ties between the fashion federations of the two countries.

Despite a long-standing economic rivalry, economic ties between France and Italy never stopped growing. In 2025, Franco-Italian trade was worth approximately €112 billion, a six percent rise compared with the previous year. French foreign direct investment in Italy in 2024 totaled €100 billion, more than in any other country.

The goal is “to go back to the fundamentals of the Franco-Italian relationship,” an official from France’s Elysée palace told reporters. The official boasted about the strong economic ties between Paris and Rome but glossed over the personal relationship between the two leaders.

Meloni and Macron are also expected to discuss hot EU policy debates, including “Made in Europe” rules, tackling China and the need for new revenue streams to the EU’s next budget via so-called “own resources.”

L’ultima occasione

Thursday’s Franco-Italian summit, the first since 2020, is meant to mend the broken relationship between Meloni and Macron just several months before the French president leaves office.

But it’s impossible to ignore the bad blood between the two leaders.

When she was in the opposition, Meloni constantly attacked Macron, even accusing him of stealing the sovereignty of the Mont Blanc summit from Italy and of neocolonialism in Africa.

Meloni and her party voted against the 2021 Franco-Italian “Quirinale treaty,” which was signed by Macron and former Italian PM Mario Draghi and lays the ground for the bilateral ties between Paris and Rome.

When Meloni came to power in 2022, the relationship with Macron remained frosty.

The duo had regular clashes and failed to build a highly fruitful bilateral relationship comparable to the one between France and Germany, even if that was the goal of the Quirinale treaty. However, at the ministerial level, Franco-Italian cooperation intensified, and Meloni and Macron joined forces on key priorities such as supporting Ukraine and keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.

While that accord mandated intergovernmental summits once a year, it took France and Italy five years to finally organize one, and not without some last-minute delays and a change of location.

Macron and Meloni have also recently disagreed on issues like migration hubs in non-EU countries and imposing a social media ban for children.