Salvini Girds for Possible New Vote as Di Maio Defends Five Star

(Bloomberg) -- Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini reportedly told his troops to “be ready” for a possible early return to the polls, even as ally-cum-rival Luigi Di Maio signaled business as usual for Italy’s embattled government and said his party isn’t ceding ground to its surging coalition partner.

While disconnect between Salvini’s rightist League and Di Maio’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement is nothing new, their discordant messages highlight a new balance of power following the League’s resounding victory in European parliament elections.

The stakes are high. The push-and-pull between the two parties is taking place against the background of a fragile economy that’s at risk from a Europe-wide manufacturing slump and a looming showdown with European partners over Italy’s failure to rein in debt.

Salvini has kept the pressure on since his party’s May electoral victory, saying early this month that he’ll keep the coalition alive only if it meets a 15-day deadline for action on League priorities.

But he may be growing impatient already. The League leader told party ministers convening at his residence in Rome on Wednesday to “be ready for any eventuality,” including an early return to the polls, daily la Repubblica reported.

Top League lawmakers remain unconvinced about continued cooperation with Five Star, which they blame for inaction on industrial policy that could lead to factory closures, lost jobs and slipping support for the their party. An expected cabinet shakeup may not take place at all, as League lawmakers now see it as “pointless,” Repubblica reported.

Support from Di Maio’s Five Star Movement for the “flat tax,” a flagship League promise, is based on the plan’s benefits for middle class Italians, not on pressure from a surging Salvini. Five Star only backed a League-sponsored security decree after demanding amendments, the party leader said in an interview published Thursday in Corriere della Sera.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jerrold Colten in Milan at jcolten@bloomberg.net;John Follain in Rome at jfollain2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Dan Liefgreen, Alessandro Speciale

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