Italy’s League sees chance of deal with Five Star: Corriere

Bloomberg

Italy’s euroskeptic League leader Matteo Salvini sees a “real” chance that Italy’s next government will be between the center-right coalition and the populist Five Star Movement, according to an interview in Corriere della Sera.
The coalition’s policy differences with Five Star “are less pronounced than people think,” Salvini said in the article. “There’s a real possibility to build a government.”
President Sergio Mattarella is expected to hold a second round of talks with party leaders next weekend in an effort to break a month-long political gridlock, after both Salvini and Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio failed to get a parliamentary majority in the March 4 election. Friction between the two sides centres on Di Maio’s insistence on premiership and his opposition to a role for Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, part of the center-right coalition.
According to press reports, center-right leaders including Berlusconi, Salvini and Giorgia Meloni will meet at Berlusconi’s residence in Milan to discuss their strategy before the next round of talks, in which they will take part together.
Meanwhile, Di Maio is seeking dialogue with other parties to allow him to reach a parliamentary majority before presidential talks resume, extending a hand both to the ruling Democratic Party and to the League.
On Saturday, the leader invited the Democratic Party, which he previously strongly criticised, to “bury the hatchet” and start a conversation on possible government options. His position, published in an interview in newspaper La Repubblica, left Democratic leaders divided.
While Maurizio Martina—the party’s acting secretary following the departure of Matteo Renzi—said the PD’s decision not to take part in a government doesn’t change after Di Maio’s appeal, others, including minister Dario Franceschini, suggested a possible positive response to Five Star’s invitation.