French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the rise of nationalist-populism in Europe, calling it a hateful “leprosy.”
During an address in the Brittany region of France, the unpopular globalist bemoaned the euroskeptic, pro-sovereignty sentiment that is systematically destroying the European liberal order and is threatening to topple one of its staunchest proponents – Macron ally Angela Merkel.
“I’m saying to you in the gravest terms: Many hate [the EU] but they have hated it for a long time, and now you see them rise, like leprosy, all around Europe, in countries where we thought that they would never reappear, in neighboring countries,” Macron said in a thinly-veiled shot at the new Italian government.
“They’re saying the worst things, and we’re getting used to it. They’re making provocations, and nobody is horrified by that,” he continued, also condemning “resurgent nationalism and closed borders, which some are pushing for.”
Italian officials immediately hit back at Macron, including Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio.
“The insults of the gossipers Macron and Saviano do not affect me, they give me strength,” Salvini tweeted. “While they speak, I am working today to block the smuggling of illegals in the Mediterranean and to give back to the Italians the villas seized by the mobsters. There are those who speak, there are those who do. Kisses.” ...
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