But at a Brussels summit on Friday he "took it to the next level": Renzi castigated Germany and its leader Angela Merkel, Politico reported.
According to the article, the clash between Renzi and Merkel during the meeting of EU leaders "spiced up what turned out to be a somewhat lackluster set of accomplishments from the two-day summit."
The clash with Merkel has highlighted Renzi’s increasingly confrontational posture toward EU officials.
Renzi underscored that the negotiations on the South Stream pipeline were suspended last year due to anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the EU. Meanwhile, Germany now supports the construction of Nord Stream at a time when the EU is about to approve the extension of its anti-Russian sanctions.
Renzi added that he was opposed to automatically renewing the sanctions without opening a discussion on the pipeline project.
