Rival Italian parties M5S and PD to form new coalition government, staving off elections and ending ‘the craziest crisis ever’
- Five Star said the coalition would be led by outgoing prime minister Giuseppe Conte
Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the centre-left Democratic Party clinched a deal Wednesday to form a new government and stave off elections in the euro zone’s third-largest economy.
Five Star (M5S) said the coalition would be led by outgoing prime minister Giuseppe Conte, who resigned following the collapse of the populist government earlier this month.
The deal between two historic enemies is set to bring to an end what Italian newspapers have dubbed “the craziest crisis ever”.
M5S head Luigi Di Maio told reporters at the presidential palace in Rome that the endorsement Tuesday of Conte by US President Donald Trump “had shown us we were on the right path”.
The parties had been bickering over whether Conte – a soft-spoken former academic chosen as a compromise prime minister last year – should lead a new coalition or whether a fresh face would better signal a fresh start.