A war of words has broken out between the French president and the Italian prime minister over the murder of Quentin Delanque.
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Published February 19, 2026
French President Emmanuel Macron has clashed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over the beating of a French far-right activist to far-left activists in Lyon.
“The killings by groups linked to left-wing extremism… are a wound for all of Europe,” Meloni, a conservative, said on social media on Wednesday. President Macron vented his anger in a meeting with reporters on a visit to India on Thursday, saying everyone should “stay in their own lane”.
“It always amazes me how nationalists who don’t want to be bothered about their own country are always the first to comment on what’s happening in other countries,” he said.
Asked whether his remarks were referring to Meloni, President Macron replied: “That’s right.”
In response, Meloni said Macron had misunderstood his comments. “I regret that President Macron felt this was an obstruction,” Meloni said in a television interview with Italian news channel Sky TG24.
Delanque, 23, was assaulted and killed during a far-right demonstration in Lyon on February 12. Seven people, including a parliamentary aide from the far-left party France Unboud (LFI), will be charged with murder in the incident, prosecutors announced on Thursday. They were among 11 people arrested earlier this week.
Lyon prosecutor Thierry Derain said Jacques-Ellie Favreau, an aide to LFI lawmaker Raphaël Arnault, was charged with abetment and conspiracy and remanded in pre-trial detention. Favreau and the other suspects deny the charges.
The incident has shaken French politics, fueling tensions between the far right and far left ahead of local elections in March and the 2027 presidential election.
Opinion polls predict that the far-right will take the lead in the 2027 presidential election, when centrist President Emmanuel Macron must resign after his maximum two consecutive terms in office.
Tensions between Macron and Meloni
Macron, a pro-European centrist, and Meloni, one of US President Donald Trump’s closest European allies, have had heated arguments in the past over issues ranging from the Ukraine conflict to trade and European policy.
In a television interview on Thursday, Meloni referred to the so-called “Years of Lead” from 1969 to 1980, when Italy was hit by attacks by the radical Marxist Red Brigades.
Several former Red Brigade members have fled to France, and their fate is at a crossroads between the two countries.
“The ruling class, [reflect] “It’s a history that both Italy and France know very well about how to combat a climate that could take us back decades, and they have given political asylum to key figures in the Red Brigades,” Meloni said.
