Italy’s government survived 2018 -- passing its budget at the eleventh hour -- but don’t be surprised if in 2019 the uneasy populist alliance falls apart, ushering an early election. Ahead lies a year in which deputy premiers Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio, the real powers behind the government, will battle for supremacy while trying to work out how they can start to deliver on promises of a lower retirement age and welfare benefits when they curtailed the funding earmarked for these pledges. They are an odd couple. Salvini’s anti-migration party is strongest in the business-rich north and Di Maio’s ... (full story)