LUIGI DI MAIO (pictured, left) is only 31, but as leader of the Five Star Movement (M5S), he is poised for a decisive role in Italy’s next government. After coming first in the general election on March 4th, the M5S appeared close this week to sealing a coalition agreement with the far-right Northern League and its leader, Matteo Salvini (pictured, right). That would give Italy, and western Europe, its first all-populist government. Mr Di Maio, a university drop-out, is known for his grammatical howlers, but he can concoct a good soundbite. “Obviously, history is being written,” he declared on May 13th, as he left another round of the interminable coalition talks. “So it takes a bit of time.”
One problem the two sides had not resolved, as The Economist went to press, was finding a prime minister. (A possibility was that each party’s choice might serve half a term.) Yet the programme on which they were toiling may indeed be historic. If they...Continue reading
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