Last week the leader of the right-wing League party, Matteo Salvini, generated a political crisis in Italy by ending his coalition agreement with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement over disagreements on policy. Salvini sought to trigger an early general election in which the League would perform strongly. But Salvini's rivals are working against him. The Five Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party (PD) on Aug. 13 blocked a proposal in parliament by the League to hold a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Aug. 14, and instead scheduled speeches by Conte in the two chambers of Parliament to address the crisis on Aug. 20 and Aug. 21. Salvini's rivals have thus bought themselves some time to negotiate a deal to prevent a general election....
