Conte told Italian daily Corriere della Sera that France and Germany are using “a pro-EU rhetoric which hides the pursuing of national interests”. He added: “They are only thinking of their national interests.”
The Italian leader said when Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel signed a bilateral treaty earlier this week in Aachen, France in fact committed to supporting Germany’s bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
The UN Security Council has had only five members, China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – the victors of World War II, ever since its foundation in 1945. “Instead, a couple of days ago, the Aachen treaty comes out,” Conte pointed out.
“Did Germany win the war, or did it lose it?” He added: “The truth is that we have caught France and Germany with their hand in the cookie jar.”
But this is not the first time France and Germany try to use their bully others. The two countries had tried earlier this month to block the bid of an Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri, to take over a French rival.
France and Germany are “making a fool” of Italy on assigning France’s United Nations Security Council seat to the European Union.
Germany responded on Friday that a UN seat had been “our goal for some time” and this should not come as a surprise. The Aachen Treaty is not against any other members but in favour of the EU,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert.