Five Star Wants a Coalition Deal With Anyone But Berlusconi
- Di Maio blackballs Berlusconi sparking clash with center-right
- President Mattarella in two days of talks with party leaders
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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.