The incumbent Italian government should remain in power until its term expires, with the country needing a cohesive cabinet, a deputy prime minister and the leader of the Five Star Movement (M5S), Luigi Di Maio, said in light of rumors of the ruling coalition crisis.
“In my view, the government should last for four years. When we disagree, we will say that, but to do this country good, we need a cohesive government and a cohesive majority”, Di Maio told reporters on Tuesday.
The prospect for a government crisis in Italy was outlined after the European Parliament elections, in which the eurosceptic Lega, a junior coalition partner, won 34 percent of the vote, twice as much as the anti-establishment M5S. The two parties, meanwhile, have a number of disagreements, including on economic and certain political issues.
On Monday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged the coalition government allies to confirm whether they were ready to continue working together and threatened to resign if their rift exacerbated by poor M5S electoral performance continued.
That same day, both Di Maio and Lega leader Matteo Salvini reaffirmed their commitment to the coalition government contract.
On Tuesday morning, Di Mayo and Salvini held telephone talks, agreeing to seek compromises. Later, the parties reached an agreement on a decree concerning amendments to the code of state contracts. Previously, this measure caused political disputes within the coalition and reportedly threatened to lead to its collapse.
Salvini has said that he sees his eurosceptic Lega party’s victory in the European Parliament elections as a popular mandate for Rome to strive for changes to EU budget rules.
The Italian government, which has increased its budget deficit and debt to inject money into the economy to boost consumption and buying power, has long opposed EU budget rules imposed on member states. In October, the European Commission rejected the Italian budget for “brazenly” violating the bloc’s rules on public spending. Rome was forced to backtrack somewhat before Brussels accepted its budget.