Populism: France's Macron warns of populism leprosy, Italy hits back - by Michel Rose, Gavin Jones

Italy’s anti-establishment leaders, clearly assuming Macron was referring to them, hit back by dismissing the 40-year-old French president as a “chatterbox” and accusing him of hypocrisy in his stance over immigration.

Macron has come under pressure at home for not accepting the Aquarius migrant ship that far-right Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini turned away from Italian ports, prompting a war of words between Paris and Rome.

On a visit to Brittany, a particularly pro-Europe region, Macron urged commentators to fight those who “hate Europe” rather than attacking him.

“You can see them rise a bit like a leprosy all across Europe, in countries where we thought that would be impossible to see them again, in neighboring countries,” Macron said.

“They’re saying the worst things, and we’re getting used to it. They’re making provocations, and nobody is horrified by that,” he added, without mentioning Italy or anybody else.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, head of the 5-Star Movement which governs with Salvini’s League party, called Macron’s words “offensive and out of place”.

Read more: France's Macron warns of populism leprosy, Italy hits back | Reuters

EU Media: Leading Newspapers Alliance: Media cooperation can affect European Agenda – by Christophe Leclercq

The EU has brought countries together more than even before, but the lack of a common debate is problematic. The Leading European Newspaper Alliance (LENA) is working towards this goal by bringing together seven newsrooms from seven European countries.

Javier Moreno is Director of LENA and former editor-in-chief of El País.

He spoke with Euractiv founder Christophe Leclercq as part of the #Media4EU series. LENA groups seven media organisations:  Die Welt (Germany), El País (Spain), La Repubblica (Italy), Le Figaro (France), Le Soir (Belgium), Tages-Anzeiger (Switzerland – DE) and Tribune de Genève (Switzerland – FR)

Question: Trump got elected, despite the opposition by the mainstream media. Do you think that here in Europe the media could help counter populism?

Answer : It’s very complicated. Obviously if you think that populism is the wrong choice for a country, which I do, then there is room for the media to fight against it. I would like to think that this has been our job for years. Only in the wake of what’s happened in the US we’ve realised we’re probably not doing a good job in debunking falsehoods. This has allowed populism to gain momentum. So I think this should be probably our first concern in the coming years.: 

For the complete interview click here: Leading Newspapers Alliance: Media cooperation can affect European Agenda – EurActiv.com