PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron invited his Italian counterpart to Paris on Friday, in a conciliatory gesture as France’s ambassador returned to Rome after he was recalled for a week in a diplomatic spat between the neighbours.

Macron, who spoke by telephone to Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday to “reaffirm the importance” of bilateral ties, asked the French ambassador to deliver the invitation at a meeting Friday evening, the Elysee Palace said.

Mattarella, a centre-left politician, is an elder statesman whose job as president carries limited political powers.

France had announced on Feb­ruary 7 that it was recalling its ambassador, Christian Masset, to protest “unfounded attacks and outlandish claims” by Italy’s populist coalition government — led by deputy prime ministers Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini.

“I am very happy that the ambassador is on his way back to Italy,” Luigi Di Maio, who is deputy prime minister, told reporters in Rome.

“I shall meet him, I want to ask him for a meeting,” Di Maio added.

Relations between the two countries have fractured due to repeated clashes between Di Maio and Salvini’s populist coalition government and France’s centrist Macron.

Paris was incensed when Di Maio made a surprise visit to France on February 5 to meet a group of radical “yellow vest” protesters who have led demonstrations against Macron.

“The wind of change has crossed the Alps,” Di Maio wrote afterwards of the three months of protests against Macron, adding that he was preparing a common front ahead of European Parliament elections in May.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a “line was crossed” with the visit, which was organised without French authorities being informed.

The last time Paris recalled its ambassador to Rome was during World War II when Italy, under leader Benito Mussolini, invaded France in 1940.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2019