France Calls Ambassador Back From Italy in Escalating Diplomatic Spat

France Calls Ambassador Back From Italy in Escalating Diplomatic Spat
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (R) next to Italy's Minister of Labor and Industry Luigi Di Maio in Rome on June 1, 2018. Tony Gentile/File Photo/Reuters
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PARIS/ROME—France recalled its ambassador to Italy on Feb. 7, a remarkable diplomatic split between neighbors and European Union allies, after what it described as “repeated, baseless” attacks by Italian political leaders against France.

The rupture, the first withdrawal of a French envoy to Rome since World War Two, was announced by the foreign ministry.