Rome (AFP)

Italy is embarking on Thursday in a second round of consultations to try to find a solution to the crisis triggered by the explosion of the volatile populist government formed by the League of Matteo Salvini and the Five Star Movement in June 2018.

President Sergio Mattarella, the master of clocks who has the key to the outcome, will continue his interviews with political parties whose main events will take place in his Quirinal Palace from 10:00 am (0800 GMT) until evening.

At the end of this ballet, various options will be offered to him including early elections this fall.

But this prospect does not delight him because the third economy of the euro zone, highly indebted and whose growth is at a standstill, should face at the same time the perilous exercise of the budget for 2020.

Measures must imperatively be adopted to avoid an automatic rise in VAT next year, having not previously filled a budget hole estimated at 23 billion euros.

The Italian crisis "is occurring in a critical phase for Europe with a risk of recession in Germany, the installation of a new Commission in Brussels and could contribute to significantly worsening confidence in the euro zone", said Andrea Montanino , chief economist of the employers' federation Confindustria.

The most likely scenario is that of a new majority.

The first party on the left, the Democratic Party (PD), which represents about 20% of the vote, proposed Wednesday an alliance to the Movement 5 Stars, released by Mr. Salvini on August 8, after 14 months of marriage.

The M5S did not respond immediately, leaving some doubt. Even if, considering its weakening - it fell from 32% in spring 2018 to about 15/16% - going back to the polls right now would be of the order of suicide, according to analysts.

In Parliament, however, the Five Stars are still "the first party" with a "relative majority" on which to build a new pact of government.

Nicola Zingaretti's DP posed five conditions for an all-left marriage with the M5S, a formation based on the rejection of the old political class and corruption but traversed by disparate currents, including a strong Eurosceptic trend .

In addition to "a loyal membership of Europe", respect for the "centrality of Parliament", development in line with the environment, a radical change in the management of migration and an economic shift towards more redistribution and investment, the PD demands that the next executive is not led by outgoing Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Although he is very popular in Italy (with a rating of 54% in July) and the Five Stars consider him a "servant of the Nation whose Italy can not do without", Mr. Zingaretti blames him for to have accepted without protest during his 14 months of mandate Salvini's anti-migrant diktats.

- Extra large majority? -

The other names circulating are those of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico of the M5S, considered too leftist by some Five Stars, or the former anti-corruption judge Raffaele Cantone.

To promote this rapprochement that he had the idea, the former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, a good part of the Five Stars hate, has already said that he would stay behind.

Another hypothesis would see the formation of an extra-large and pro-European majority, bringing together left and right, like German coalitions.

Former European Commission President Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister, has proposed such a government "Ursula", named after the new president of the Brussels Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

The executive could be extended to Forza Italia, the center-right party of Silvio Berlusconi, virtually moribund, but which can offer valuable seats in Parliament.

A little worried that the Cavaliere, arrived in Rome Wednesday night for a staff meeting, is not tempted by this lifeline, Matteo Salvini warned his old ally: "whoever will ally with the PD, no will go to government with the League ".

© 2019 AFP