(ANSA) - Naples, NOvember 29 - A reform of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) European Union bailout fund "must be improved," Foreign Minister and ruling anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio said amid a clash between Premier Giuseppe Conte and nationalist League leader Matteo Salvini on the issue Friday.
    "The issue is not the ESM per se, but whether it is a save-State or crush-State (mechanism)", Di Maio said.
    Salvini on Thursday accused Conte of "betraying" Italians over the reform and urged President Sergio Mattarella to intervene, and Conte responded by threatening to sue Salvini for libel.
    In an interview with La Stampa newspaper Friday, Salvini returned to the attack, accusing Conte of "covering Italy with lies" and saying "the Italians' money is at risk with the bailout fund." Asked about the libel threat, he said "Conte should join the queue, first comes Carola" (Rackete), an NGO migrant rescue ship captain.
    Salvini reiterated his call for Mattarella to intervene.
    Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri told the QN newspaper that "the reform of the ESM does not introduce any problematic novelty and does not present any risk for Italy, which does not need, and will not need, to ask for the ESM's support, since it is a solid country".
    The EU is set to sign off next month on a reform that would make the ESM more akin to the IMF, with support for States in financial difficulty made conditional on debt restructuring.
    But it is unclear whether the restructuring demand would be automatic or not.
    Italy is considered by experts to be vulnerable to market turbulence due to its huge public debt of over 2,000 billion euros.
    Premier Conte is said to be thinking about trying to postpone the reform at an EU summit next month.