In France, the adoption of the euro was partly motivated by the desire for equality with Germany, but asymmetry has increased in terms of economic prowess and international status, leading to a sense of déclassement. This paper identifies links between France’s status reduction, a consequent feeling of humiliation, and the foreign policy positions associated with that collective emotion. Evidence of France’s déclassement includes macroeconomic trends, semi-structured interviews with a sample of elites, the secondary literature, and the domestic political disputes that have emerged as a result of this reduction of national status. The paper also systematically compares France to Italy, as in many ways it is similar to that country, but with one key difference: the political forces which have been loudest about Italy’s humiliation vis-à-vis Germany obtained power and governed from May 2018 to August 2019. Their orientations and positions provide a peek into the kinds of international political decisions associated with both déclassement and humiliation, and provide further evidence on the links between status reduction, group-level emotion, and inter-group behaviour.