Populist coalition could take Italy

The populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and Matteo Salvini’s anti-migrant Northern League party were the two big winners from this month’s general election, but each is short of a majority.

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Matteo Salvini: only ego stands in the way
(Image credit: Credit: Independent Photo Agency Srl / Alamy Stock Photo)

Investors and Italy's European partners are worried, says John Follain on Bloomberg Politics. The populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and Matteo Salvini's anti-migrant Northern League party were the two big winners from this month's general election, but each is short of a majority. Now the two have ganged up to sideline Salvini's centre-right ally Silvio Berlusconi in votes for parliamentary speakers. The pact has sparked talk of a populist coalition. The snag is that both the League's Salvini and Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio want to be prime minister.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.