(Bloomberg) -- Italy’s president will give Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte the go-ahead to form a new government, according to a senior official, ending days of stop-and-go negotiations and bickering between the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party.
The decision by 78-year-old head of state Sergio Mattarella would cap a remarkable week for Conte, who was ousted as premier in the outgoing populist administration when League party leader Matteo Salvini set off an unprecedented mid-summer government crisis earlier this month.
The agreement could put an end to the political chaos that has paralyzed Italy’s government since Salvini triggered the dissolution of the previous administration earlier this month. Markets breathed a sigh of relief, with the new coalition pledging business-friendly policies, which could avert a nasty clash with the European Union over the nation’s 2020 budget.
Mattarella’s office said earlier on Wednesday that the president had summoned Conte to a meeting on Thursday.
In stormy negotiations with the Democrats, or PD, over the last week Five Star’s leadership held fast to their insistence on Conte’s return as premier. Now, he’ll need to verify that he has a workable majority encompassing the two parties’ lawmakers, and name a cabinet.
“We believe it’s worth trying,” PD leader Nicola Zingaretti said after meeting Mattarella in Rome on Wednesday, reiterating that any government with Five Star would have to mark “discontinuity” with the outgoing administration.
The Democrats continue to object to Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio’s claim to remain deputy prime minister as in the previous administration led by Conte. The objection is not to Di Maio himself but to Five Star holding both the premier and vice premier roles, a PD official said.
