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Rome’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte accused the two countries of mocking Italy and the EU after signing an update to a 1963 post-war reconciliation Elysée treaty on Tuesday. The move puts
pressure on authorities to make Germany a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which it has long wanted. But critics claim the treaty is a Franco-German bid to strong-arm the EU and
reinvigorate their influence. Mr Conte said: ”They are only thinking of their national interests. "Certainly our allies cannot believe that we will sit silently at the table to
underwrite decisions taken by others.” Germany has been elected as one of 10 non-permanent members of the security council from 2019-2020. China, France , Russia, the United Kingdom, and the
US are the five current permanent members Germany wants to join. French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Mrs Merkel, signed the 16-page update to the 1963 Elysée treaty. The
move will “give an impulse to European unity”, said Mrs Merkel. It comes after Brexit and a rise in populism and nationalism across the continent. France has recently been rocked by violent
protests. Mrs Merkel said: “For the first time, a country is leaving the European Union - in the form of Great Britain. “Populism and nationalism are strengthening in all of our countries.
“Seventy-four years – a single human lifetime – after the end of the second world war, what seems self-evident is being called into question once more.” Mrs Merkel also called for a European
army, with Mr Macron adding Europe must become “a shield” to the world’s problems. But populist leaders across Europe criticised the move, with British MP Daniel KAwczynski, a member of the
pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) . The Tory MP for Shrewsbury and Ascham said: "It is quite clear that Macron and Merkel are in trouble, their electorates are not happy with
the courses they have set for their countries. “Rather than trying to listen to the concerns of voters they are doubling down and going for more Europe not less." Italy’s far-right
interior minister, Matteo Salvini, also attacked the treaty update's pro-European message.. He vowed to counter the French-German pact with a Eurosceptic “Italian-Polish axis”.