The anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement's (M5S) insistence on caretaker premier Giuseppe Conte
heading a new executive is blocking a government deal with the
centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
PD leader Nicola Zingaretti has said there must be a new
premier and that Conte is compromised as leader of the 14-month
M5S-League government on which nationalist League leader Matteo
Salvini pulled the plug earlier this month.
But M5S leader Luigi Di Maio, who has called Conte "a rare
pearl", is adamant that the lawyer must head a 'Conte #2'
administration.
President Sergio Mattarella, the arbiter of the government
crisis, has given the M5S and the PD till Wednesday evening to
agree on a "solid and lasting" executive.
If they don't, he is likely to call early elections for
October 27, Italian media say.
There is also a slim chance of the M5S getting back together
with the League amid continual overtures from Salvini - although
he called time on the fractious government to cash in on surging
opinion polls.
But Conte, for one, has said that a new government with
Salvini is out of the question.
In is resignation address on August 20 Conte made a
blistering attack on Salvini's policies including the hardline
anti-migrant stance that has helped boost his poll ratings -
earning the premier plaudits from the left.
One of the conditions the PD has set for a government with
the M5S is reversing Salvini's policy of closing Italy's ports
to NGO run migrant rescue ships.
One of the key conditions the M5S has set is to cut the
number of Italy's Mps and Senators from 945 to 600.
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