French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni not to “comment” on French affairs after remarks she made about the slain activist.
“Let everyone stay in their home and the sheep will be well looked after”, quipped Macron from New Delhi, on the sidelines of an official visit to India, after the Italian Prime Minister’s statements on the death of the nationalist militant Quentin Deranque in a beating by political opponents.
Macron is “carefully following the situation” caused by the death of the nationalist militant Quentin Deranque and – like the young man’s family – urges us to avoid “any mechanism of violence”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2026/02/19/laffondo-di-macron-meloni-non-commenti-gli-affari-francesi-da-roma-stupore-per-le-sue-parole-4f8c48e5-0e0e-4586-bbf9-de1c7c4241ad/.”The president – specify sources in his entourage – is obviously worried about the situation, which he follows closely” despite having been visiting India for a few days, where he is today taking part in a summit on artificial intelligence in New Delhi. In the evening he is expected in Paris.
Palazzo Chigi sources: “Astonishment for Macron, Meloni’s closeness to the French”
The declarations of the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron were welcomed “with amazement” at Palazzo Chigi. This was reported by sources at Palazzo Chigi, underlining that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “expressed her deep condolences and dismay at the dramatic killing of the young Quentin Deranque and condemned the climate of ideological hatred that is affecting various nations European”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2026/02/19/laffondo-di-macron-meloni-non-commenti-gli-affari-francesi-da-roma-stupore-per-le-sue-parole-4f8c48e5-0e0e-4586-bbf9-de1c7c4241ad/.”Statements which – add the same sources – represent a sign of closeness to the French people affected by this terrible event and which do not enter in any way into the internal affairs of France”.
Tajani: “Quentin’s murder has no boundaries and must be condemned”
“The killing of a young French activist, mostly in a university context, is a serious fact that concerns everyone, an episode that must be condemned without hesitation. A murder that has no boundaries, a warning to those who use hatred and violence, to those who insult and profess offensive language. There have been many Quentins in Italy. Some in the darkest periods of the Republic. Well, condemning episodes like the one in Lyon also serves this purpose, to ensure that we do not return to a bad past in Italy too. Because politics is above all dialogue and discussion, even with those who don’t think like us”. Antonio Tajani writes it on X.