Italy's League May Seek Revised Coalition Pact After EU Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Italy’s League may seek to rewrite its government “contract” with coalition partner the Five Star Movement if it scores strongly in next month’s European parliamentary elections, a senior party lawmaker said.

The League is flexing its muscles as the latest polls show it’s set to beat the anti-establishment Five Star by about 10 percentage points in the May ballot. The pro-business, anti-migrant League entered the government as junior partner after Five Star won the most votes in the March 2018 general election.

A series of wins in regional elections this year has bolstered the League’s strength, giving the impression that party leader Matteo Salvini is the real power in the populist coalition.

"We could seek to rewrite a contract, trying to give more weight to some of our ideas,” Riccardo Molinari, head of the League’s lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, said in Rome Tuesday. “But the aim would be to keep the government going."

Coalition Tensions

The populist coalition has been plagued by discord on issues from the budget to migration, security and even relations with China. In the run-up to the European vote, the League and Five Star are seeking to differentiate themselves from each other in the eyes of voters, while continuing to govern together.

Tensions over budget priorities have fed Five Star’s frustration with Finance Minister Giovanni Tria, culminating in periodic demands that he resign. The most recent calls for the minister to go have focused on charges of favoritism, a taboo for the anti-establishment movement. Tria said he won’t resign and charged his opponents with violations of privacy, Corriere della Sera reported Wednesday.

Since the government was sworn in June 1, the coalition has prioritized flagship reforms, Molinari said, including earlier retirement for the League and a citizen’s income for Five Star.

“Now that flagship measures have been completed, there’s the possibility of drawing up new measures together,” Molinari said. The League’s bargaining power within the coalition would increase after a European election win, he said.

Salvini has been asked by other European parties if he’d agree to stand for the post of president of the European Commission, Molinari said. “He’s thinking about it,” Molinari added.

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

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Jerrold Colten

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