the Withdrawal was motivated by the Italian populistregeringens “unfounded and bizarre” statements, which, above all, directed against the French government and the president of Emmanuel Macron. In the days before the announcement was Luigi Di Maio, the leader of the Femstjärnerörelsen and the Italian one deputy prime minister, visited Paris to show their support for the protest movement Yellow vests.
France had not called home its ambassador from Rome since the second world war, where France and Italy were on opposite sides.