A handshake that feels like a truce. Giorgia Meloni and Emmanuel Macron appear smiling and close at the Elysee, after weeks of political skirmishes and diplomatic distance. An “affectionate” image that comes as Europe seeks to regroup around one of the most sensitive dossiers: global energy security and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The photo, taken upon the Italian premier’s arrival in Paris, tells more than many official statements. The gesture-hands clasped, relaxed gazes-signals a different atmosphere compared with the recent tensions between Rome and Paris. The color combination is striking: Meloni’s red blazer next to Macron’s blue suit, together with the white of both shirts, ends up, unintentionally?, forming the French flag. A detail that visually conveys the sense of a renewed accord.

The context is anything but light. At the Elysee a meeting is taking place to organize a multinational mission to protect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial junction for the global hydrocarbon trade. The aim is to build a “coalition of the willing” capable of ensuring maritime security-through mine-clearing and protection of merchant vessels-at a time still marked by the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

In this setting, the Meloni-Macron image takes on significance beyond protocol: it is an attempt, at least visually, to piece back together a European axis that remains indispensable when the crisis becomes systemic. And, for once, even the colors seem to help.