Bring back ambassador to Italy

It has happened rarely between European Union allies, and not between France and Italy since World War II. But Thursday, after months of barbed commentary from Italian leaders, the French government said it had had enough: It recalled its ambassador from Rome. “This is without precedent since 1940, when Mussolini declared war,” said Marc Lazar, a specialist in Fran- co-Italian relations who teaches at universities in Paris and Rome. The pro- test reflected the mount- ing strains at Europe’s core brought on by populists seek- ing to denigrate the bloc and forge anti-European alliances across borders.