Meloni, Macron to meet in Rome in possible reconciliation

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will host French President Emmanuel Macron next week in Rome, in a highly anticipated meeting seen as a potential turning point in their often fraught relationship.

The one-on-one talks, set for Tuesday evening, are being framed as a chance to reset ties after years of tension and recent high-profile snubs between the two European leaders. Italy’s Corriere della Sera called it a “turning point summit,” while Il Messaggero described the encounter as a diplomatic “thaw.”

According to Macron’s team, it was the French president who initiated the meeting. “It is his role to bring Europeans together,” an aide said, adding that Macron is eager to cooperate with Meloni.
Strains on Display

The summit follows a particularly public rift earlier this month. At a European leaders' gathering in Tirana on May 16, Meloni was conspicuously absent from a closed-door meeting that included Macron, the leaders of Germany, Britain, and Poland, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That group later made a joint call to former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Meloni later explained her absence, saying she opposed any discussion of sending Italian troops to Ukraine to enforce a possible peace deal. Macron dismissed her concerns as a “misunderstanding,” insisting the talks focused on achieving a ceasefire and included no mention of troop deployments.
A Broader Agenda

The meeting in Rome is also expected to touch on broader European issues, including the war in Ukraine and the growing threat of U.S. tariffs under Trump. Despite ideological and stylistic differences, analysts suggest both leaders have strategic reasons to mend ties.

During a joint press conference in Rome on May 17 with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Meloni urged her European counterparts to "abandon selfishness" and focus on "the unity of the West" — a message interpreted by some as a veiled critique of Macron’s recent moves.

Since Meloni took office in October 2022, Paris and Rome have clashed on a number of fronts, including migration policy and abortion rights. Yet, with Europe’s second- and third-largest economies facing shared challenges, a détente now seems both pragmatic and politically useful.
Strategic Interests

While France holds greater sway on the international stage — with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council — Meloni has cultivated strong ties with influential conservatives in Washington. Both Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance have publicly referred to her as a “friend,” praising her conservative values and tough stance on immigration.

On May 18, Meloni hosted high-level talks in Rome between Vance and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — the first such meeting since Trump began imposing new tariffs on the EU. The talks came just after the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV, underscoring Meloni’s growing role as a transatlantic broker.

Vance described Meloni as a "bridge-builder between Europe and the United States" — a quality unlikely to go unnoticed by Macron, whose political capital is waning at home amid a hostile parliament and sinking approval ratings.
A Meeting of Necessity

For Macron, diplomacy remains one of the few arenas where he can still exert influence ahead of his departure in 2027. For Meloni, who remains popular at home with approval ratings above 45 percent after two and a half years in office, repairing relations with the Élysée could bolster her international stature and temper criticisms from European peers.

Their Rome summit could mark the beginning of a more pragmatic and cooperative chapter — or at least a cooling of hostilities between two of Europe’s most high-profile, and often clashing, leaders.