Aiming to work things out with Paris-FM

(ANSA) - Rome, February 11 - Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero has said that Italy needs to "intensify institutional contacts and manage political meetings" to patch things up with France after Paris recalled its ambassador to Rome, Christian Masset, for consultations last week.
    The diplomatic crisis was set off by Deputy Premier and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio's meeting last Tuesday in Paris with members of the Yellow Vests protest movement.
    "Luigi Di Maio said he did it in his role as a leader of a political group," Moavero said in an interview published Monday by Italian daily La Repubblica.
    "The fact that he is also a member of the government has probably created a short circuit".
    Moavero said the situation ahead of May's European elections is "showing for the first time direct conflicts between the two countries' politicians," he said.
    Moavero said politicians need to "immediately clarify" when they are acting on behalf of their own political party and not as a member of the government.