What the commentators said

This is no ordinary spat, said John Lichfield on Unherd.com. It’s a first “skirmish” in “a wider war for the soul of Europe”. Underlying all the name-calling lies a fundamental question that divides Macron and Italy’s two ruling populist parties, the League and M5S: should the Europe of the 21st century be based on the single “supranational project” envisaged by the EU’S founding fathers, or a looser cooperation between nations whose historical failure to cooperate has led to so much bloodshed? This spring, Europe’s voters will have their chance to choose between these two opposing visions when they elect MEPS to the European Parliament, said Andrea Indini in Il Giornale (Milan). Indeed, that is why Di Maio risked outright confrontation with Macron by consorting with the gilets jaunes: he was publicly seeking allies for his cause among fellow populists. This could be “a turning point” for Europe.

French and Italian leaders have been at loggerheads on many issues, not just migration, said Kim Sengupta in The Independent. Italy is still furious with France for meddling in the politics of Libya, a former Italian colony – contributing, as it sees it, to the anarchy that has led to so many refugees ending up on Italian shores. It’s also angry that Brussels refused to let Italy pass an expansionary budget last year, yet allows France to flout eurozone fiscal rules with impunity. Now there’s a quarrel over Rome’s threat to cancel a proposed high-speed rail link between Lyon and Turin. Matteo Salvini, the League leader and deputy PM – who apparently throws darts at a picture of Macron in his office – has publicly urged the French to dump their “terrible” leader. It’s the nationalists who are on a roll, said Roger Boyes in The Times. A recent poll for the European Parliament election in May put their candidates at 37%, enough to enable them to “throw their weight around” in Brussels. “The Europe of the elites” is about to take on the “Europe of the angry Everyman”; there’s a strong sense that “only one can win”.