Economics

Italy, France to Bury Hatchet With a Cozy Dinner and No Salvini

Conte invites Macron to Rome Wednesday to end diplomatic spat
Economy and migration are main topics, but lots more at stake

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By John Follain, Gregory Viscusi, and Ania Nussbaum

September 17, 2019 at 3:31 PM UTC

Updated on

September 18, 2019 at 4:00 AM UTC

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For Giuseppe Conte, having Emmanuel Macron over for dinner at his Roman home in the 16th-century Palazzo Chigi is about drawing a line under Italy’s silly spat with France and jumping on a new political reality.

Back in February, Italy’s leading populists took turns baiting France to drum up votes ahead of European parliamentary elections. Macron responded by recalling his ambassador to Rome and relations were chilly for a while.