, Columnist
Italy's Populists Have Earned Their Shot
Let’s see how anti-establishment dream team can turn its lavish campaign pledges into reality.
Five Star and the League.
Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Two and a half months after an extraordinary general election, Italy is finally on the brink of getting a new government. The Five Star Movement and the League look set to form an anti-establishment coalition, which would strain Italy’s fragile public finances and inflame tensions between Rome and its euro-zone allies.
The two populist parties still have to finalize their program and pick a prime minister who would suit them both. Most important, they will need to win around Italian president Sergio Mattarella, who has signaled that he wants to play an active role in the formation of a government.