Leaders of Italy's center-right alliance have agreed to hold negotiations with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which is seeking an expansive economic policy and debt reduction after emerging as the largest single party from the March 4 national election.
Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, has been permitted by his alliance partners including former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia to engage in talks with 5-Star and the center-left Democratic Party on electing parliamentary speakers later this month, Bloomberg News reported.
However, conflicting local reports indicated that Salvini and Berlusconi disagreed on having coalition government talks with 5-Star, according to Bloomberg News. Berlusconi said last week he will back Salvini as Italy's next prime minister.
No single party won a majority in the recent election. The center-right alliance collectively obtained 265 of the 630 seats in the lower house of parliament, while 5-Star and the center-left got 227 and 122 seats, respectively.
Aspiring prime minister and 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio, who said last week that his party should take the helm of the next government, suggested that Italy should adopt an expansive economic policy also aimed at cutting debt, Reuters reported. He also said the parameters of the EU's economic rules could be changed.
