It is like the weigh-in before a prize fight between two champion boxers. On one side, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, a hardcore Eurosceptic and now standard-bearer for Europe’s nationalist rightwing. On the other, Emmanuel Macron, the most Europhile French president in a generation, with an ambitious agenda to strengthen the EU.
With an eye on European parliamentary elections in May, Mr Salvini started to identify Mr Macron as his arch enemy in the autumn and the Frenchman has picked up the gauntlet.
