Front government of Léon Blum in France, Italian foreign policy had turned very anti-French, and Mussolini as part of his anti-French strategy wanted to detach Yugoslavia from the cordon sanitaire as Yugoslavia was the only one of France's eastern European allies that had a common frontier with Italy. Besides for his anti-French goals, Mussolini had plans to annex Albania and to use it as a base to conquer Greece, which was allied to Yugoslavia in the Balkan Entente, making an alliance with Belgrade useful from his viewpoint. Mussolini had expected that the assassination of King Alexander in 1934, which he had financed, would cause a civil war between the different peoples of Yugoslavia, which in turn would allow the Italians to seize the parts of Yugoslavia that they had long coveted. The assassination of Alexander on 9 October 1934 while on a state visit to France did not cause the expected civil war, showing Mussolini that Yugoslavia was more stable than he thought, causing him to temporarily abandon his plans against that country, and instead work for a rapprochement with Belgrade, which Stojadinović welcomed. From 1936 onward, there were increasing signs that Italy and Germany were putting aside their differences caused by the "Austrian Question" to work together with Mussolini proclaiming in a speech in Milan in October 1936 that there was now a "Berlin-Rome axis" in Europe. The existence of the "Berlin-Rome axis" ended whatever hopes the Yugoslavs might have had of playing off Italy against Germany. Balkan relations In October 1936, Stojadinović visited Istanbul and while on his way back to Belgrade stayed at Kricim castle, which was the rural residence of King Boris. During his stay at Kricim castle, Boris and Stojadinović agreed to sign a friendship treaty. Under the terms of the Balkan Pact, approval by the other members was required if any member wants to sign a treaty with another Balkan state. Stojadinović faced little opposition from Turkey, but both Romania and Greece objected strenuously, believing that Yugoslavia was deserting the alliance, and only reluctantly gave permission in January 1937. Both Romania and Greece only gave their assent when Stojadinović threatened to sign the pact without their permission, which would had broken up the Balkan Pact. In late 1936, Stojadinović sabotaged a diplomatic effort on the part of the Quai d'Orsay to strengthen the Little Entente of Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia by having the terms