The head of Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement has rekindled negotiations to form a government, days after a bitter row over the country’s future in the eurozone ended a fledgling deal for populist parties to take power. Luigi Di Maio, the 31-year-old head of M5S, Italy’s largest party, indicated on Wednesday he was prepared to compromise on his controversial choice of a eurosceptic economist, Paolo Savona, for finance minister. But he insisted that his pick for prime minister remained political newcomer Giuseppe Conte.

In the absence of an agreement between Di Maio , the president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and the far right leader Matteo Salvini, Di Maio said he favoured snap elections. “There are two paths ahead. Either we launch the Conte government with a reasonable solution or we vote right away,” he said.(theguardian)…[+]