If the Five-Star Movement & Lega really wanted to launch this government, they would have simply proposed a different minister. I think the reality is that they fancy new elections and blaming the "Europhile Establishment's president" is a good way of getting them.
Certainly, for the Lega, you can't see how new elections won't boost them. They'll run a "returning power to the (real) people" campaign, fuelled by this decision, consolidate their position as the main party on the Right and might challenge Five-Star as most voted party of all.
Mattarella says clearly in his speech that he asked the parties to nominate an "authoritative party political member of the majority" as Minister of the Economy. The parties refused.
As reasons for divorce go, it's up there with "they never put the toothpaste away".
So, saying - as some are - that Mattarella has stopped the formation of the government makes a tasty "nasty elite" narrative, but is wrong. If Lega & Five-Star had proposed someone from WITHIN their own ranks (e.g. Giorgetti of the Lega), Mattarella would surely have gone along.
Or, to put it another way, BEFORE jumping to the simplistic "unelected pro-EU president stops democratically-elected government, innit?" headline, watch and listen to what Mattarella actually says:
And on that last "democratically elected government" point: it's worth remembering that the citizens of Italy did not go to the polls in March thinking that a vote for Lega or M5S might mean a Lega-M5S government. Far from it.
