Italy set to avert snap election as rival party leaders prepare to form new coalition government

Centre-left Democrats drop opposition to reinstating Giuseppe Conte as prime minister in move which clears way for alliance with 5-Star Movement

Nicola Zingaretti, secretary of the Italian Democratic Party, talks to the media outside the centre-left paty's headquarters in Rome on Monday (AP)

Italy’s opposition Democratic Party and populist 5-Star Movement appear to be on the verge of forming a new government in an agreement that would keep far-right leader Matteo Salvini out of power and reinstate the prime minister who quit only last week.

The rival parties moved closer to forging an alliance on Monday when the Democrats indicated they had dropped a veto on Giuseppe Conte serving another term as premier.

Mr Conte, who does not represent a party but is an ally of 5-Star, resigned last week after Mr Salvini, leader of the League party, withdrew his support and caused their 14-month coalition government to collapse.

Mr Salvini had hoped to trigger a snap election, but Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella gave 5-Star the opportunity to avert that fate by forming a new coalition. They were initially given a Tuesday deadline, but on Monday the president extended that by 24 hours.

Mr Conte, who remains in place as caretaker prime minister, returned to Rome from the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, for talks with 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio and Democrat chief Nicola Zingaretti on Monday evening. Their meeting was still ongoing at midnight local time (10pm GMT.)

Mr Conte, a lawyer, was little-known by the public when he was chosen by the League and 5-Star to head their government following an inconclusive March 2018 election. He is now Italy’s most popular politician, according to opinion polls.

His reinstatement, demanded by the anti-establishment 5-Star but previously resisted by the centre-left Democrats, had been the main obstacle to a deal between the two traditionally antagonistic parties.

Mr Zingaretti had insisted any new government should break with the past. He evaded questions on whether he had relaxed that stance on Monday, but Mr Conte’s participation in the talks signalled he was set to head up the new coalition.

“We are working to give Italy a new government,” Mr Zingaretti told reporters after a meeting earlier in the day with Mr Di Maio. “I think we are on the right track. We had asked that we start off discussing ideas and content, and tonight we’ll go into details. I am optimistic.”

Italian premier Giuseppe Conte speaks on the phone on the second day of the G7 summit in Biarritz before leaving for talks in Rome (AP)

Another potential stumbling block could be hostility to the deal from 5-Star’s rank-and-file, many of whom view the Democrats as the symbol of a corrupt Italian establishment that their party was set up to fight.

The populist party normally puts key strategy decisions to an online vote of its members, following its commitment to direct democracy. On this occasion, such a move could potentially scupper the whole deal, throwing Italy back into political chaos.

5-Star’s leadership has been divided between factions that favour a coalition with the Democrats and those who believe it would shatter the party’s anti-establishment image and accelerate a decline in voter support it has suffered over the last year.

Mr Mattarella has warned he will dissolve parliament, triggering new elections this autumn, if he does not receive guarantees a new coalition would give the country a lasting government.

Mr Zingaretti promised such a government was his goal. He said: “We need to put together a budget which requires a new, serious and authoritative government.

“Assembling a government is a serious thing, we’re serious people. We don’t want to form another one like the last one that collapsed after 14 months.”

Mr Salvini, who last week had floated the idea of cobbling together a new coalition with his fellow deputy prime minister, Mr Di Maio, sounded resigned on Monday night that his scheming to win new elections was about to be thwarted.

“It seems like a government is being born with power being the only glue,” the League leader told reporters after a calling a press conference in which he claimed the proposed new coalition would be a “betrayal of the popular will”.

“You can run away from elections for a month or two months or a year, but you can’t run away for ever,” he added. “Those who are afraid of the judgment of the Italians don’t have a clear conscience.”

Giuseppe Conte, flanked by Matteo Salvini, left, and Luigi Di Maio, delivers a speech in the Italian Senate last week (AFP/Getty Images)

The new government would be required to win mandatory confidence votes in each of parliament’s two chambers.

Mr Mattarella’s office said the president would hold a second round of talks with party leaders, starting with the smallest parties in parliament on Tuesday evening.

He has set aside Wednesday for longer closed-door sessions with the heads of the Democrats, the League, and 5-Star.