Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic party (PD) have agreed to try to form a new government in a move that could avert snap elections and push the far-right League into opposition.
Italy plunged into chaos this month after Matteo Salvini withdrew his League party from its fractious alliance with M5S as he sought to exploit the party’s popularity to bring about snap elections and become prime minister.
The dramatic move threatened to create a fully far-right government.
But Salvini, whose tactics have dented his popularity in recent weeks, had not banked on M5S teaming up with the PD. The pair are longstanding enemies but also the two largest parties in parliament.
Salvini also had not expected Giuseppe Conte, the outgoing prime minister who ended the ill-fated M5S-League alliance last week, to emerge as his rival. Talks between the PD and M5S only progressed after Nicola Zingaretti, the PD leader, succumbed to demands from his M5S counterpart, Luigi Di Maio, to reinstate Conte.
“There is a political agreement with the PD allowing Conte to receive the mandate to form a long-term government,” Di Maio said after meeting the president, Sergio Mattarella, on Wednesday evening.
Di Maio also said that Salvini had tried to patch things up and restore their government, offering him the role of prime minister in return.
“I refused,” he added. “I’m interested in what is best for the country, not what is best for me. I don’t deny the work done over the past 14 months, and the recognition of Conte by [Donald] Trump is a sign that we are on the right path.”
