Five Star Vetoes Berlusconi in Push for Coalition Deal in Italy

(Bloomberg) -- The anti-establishment Five Star Movement said it's ready to go into government with any of Italy's major parties -- except Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia.

As Italy's president starts talks with political leaders in a bid to break a monthlong deadlock, Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio proposed a government contract with either his fellow populists of the League or the ruling Democratic Party, in an interview with La7 television on Tuesday night, but he also set out his red line: no deal with Berlusconi. Di Maio insisted that he should be premier, a claim that puts him at odds with Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-immigrant League.

While Five Star is the biggest single party in the new parliament, the center-right alliance led by the League has the most seats overall. Both Di Maio and Salvini have claimed a mandate to lead the next government, though neither has a majority.

“Salvini has to choose between revolution or restoration,” Di Maio said. “He has to decide whether to ditch Berlusconi and start to change Italy, or stay stuck to Berlusconi and not change anything.”

President Sergio Mattarella, whose task it is to nominate a new premier, meets party leaders on Wednesday and Thursday, his first consultations since general elections a month ago. Mattarella is unlikely to designate a premier after this week's talks, and may hold a new round next week, according to a senior state official.

Political Brinkmanship

Di Maio's remarks did nothing to break the impasse, sparking instead a clash with Salvini's center-right bloc, in which Berlusconi is a junior partner. Five Star sees Berlusconi, who is banned from public office until next year because of a 2013 tax-fraud conviction, as a symbol of the corrupt political class it rebels against.

Salvini wrote in a Facebook post that he won't get involved with the Democrats, since they were “rejected by the Italians.” He added the center-right had won most votes “and that is the starting point.” Salvini has ruled out breaking with his bloc to join Five Star.

European Parliament head Antonio Tajani, who was Berlusconi's pick for prime minister before the elections, accused Di Maio of “anti-democratic methods” in an interview with RAI radio Wednesday, adding he “fails to show respect for the almost five million citizens” who voted for Forza Italia.

The center-left Democratic Party also swiftly snubbed Di Maio after he said it must choose whether to stay in opposition. Di Maio said former leader Matteo Renzi had ruled out a role in the next government “to spite me and Five Star.”

“Dear Luigi Di Maio, we don't lend ourselves to these little games: whoever tries to divide the PD won't succeed,” acting party leader Maurizio Martina said in a post on Twitter. His party however is divided on whether to take part in government, and faces a leadership contest in coming weeks.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Ben Sills

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