ROME - French President Emmanuel Macron has decided to send France’s ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, back to the Eternal City after having withdrawn him back to Paris for consultations following increasing tensions with Italy.

 The decision follows a phone call that Macron had with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who has been carefully operating behind the scenes to diffuse Italy’s tensions with France without delegitimising Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

 “The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of Franco-Italian relations and recalled the common responsibility with respect to the European Union,” the French government said.

 A French diplomatic source is confident that after the strong message sent to Rome, “there is greater understanding that the solution to problems needs to be found together,” La Repubblica reported.

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