By Micah Jonah, February 21, 2026
Tensions have flared between French President, Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni following the killing of Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old far-right activist, in Lyon. Deranque was beaten to death during a far-right demonstration on 12 February.
Meloni condemned the killing on social media, describing it as “a wound for all of Europe caused by groups linked to left-wing extremism.” Macron responded sharply the next day while in India, telling reporters that “everyone should focus on their own affairs” and suggesting Meloni had overstepped. When asked if he was referring to her, Macron simply replied, “You got that right.”
In response, Meloni said she believed her comments had been misinterpreted. “I regret that President Macron saw my words as interference,” she told Italy’s Sky TG24.
Seven suspects, including an assistant to a member of the far-left France Unbowed party, have been charged with murder. Eleven people were arrested earlier in the week in connection with the attack. Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran confirmed that Jacques-Elie Favrot, the assistant to LFI lawmaker Raphael Arnault, is facing charges of complicity through instigation. All accused deny the charges.
The incident has sent shockwaves through French politics, intensifying tensions between far-left and far-right groups ahead of the upcoming municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential race. Current opinion polls show the far-right leading the presidential race, while Macron is due to step down after serving two consecutive terms.
Macron, a centrist who champions the European Union, and Meloni, a staunch conservative and close European ally of US President, Donald Trump, have previously disagreed on issues ranging from Ukraine to European trade policies.
Meloni also referenced Italy’s “Years of Lead,” a period from 1969 to 1980 marked by attacks from the radical Marxist Red Brigades. Several former members of the group found asylum in France, a point that has long been a source of tension between the two nations. “Governments must reflect on how to prevent a climate that could take us back decades a history Italy knows well, and France knows as well, having sheltered the leaders of the Red Brigades,” she said.
