ROME, March 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Italy's deputy prime minister, Matteo
Salvini, accused French President Emmanuel Macron Saturday of endangering
Europe by refusing to rule out sending Western ground troops to Ukraine.

The comments by Salvini, whose far-right League party is a member of Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition government, came during a gathering in
Rome of right-wing and nationalist European leaders to rally support ahead of
EU parliamentary elections in June.

Macron's suggestion last month that Western ground troops could be sent to
Ukraine was "extremely dangerous, excessive and out of balance," Salvini told
the event organised by the European Parliament's Identity and Democracy
political group.

"I think that President Macron, with his words, represents a danger for our
country and our continent," Salvini said during his speech, which largely
stressed conservative family values.

"The problem isn't mums and dads but the warmongers like Macron who talk
about war as if there were no problem now," he added.

"I don't want to leave our children a continent ready to enter World War
Three."

Portugal's Andre Ventura, leader of Portugal's far-right party Chega that
surged in a general election earlier this month, also spoke at the event, as
did Harald Vilimsky of the Freedom Party of Austria and former US
presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, among others.

France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen did not personally attend, instead
sending a video message.

The outspoken Salvini, who serves as transport minister, is a hardline
populist whose comments have often landed him in hot water.

Earlier this month, he responded to the Russian election result by saying:
"When a people vote, they are always right".

Following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny last month,
he said it was "up to Russian doctors and judges" to determine the cause.

Salvini has previously expressed his admiration for Russian President
Vladimir Putin.

Macron's comments last month in which he refused to rule out putting troops
on the ground in Ukraine prompted a stern response from Berlin and other
European partners.