This would aim to strong-arm Five Star dissenters who face expulsion from the party if they vote against the government.

Additionally, Five Star and the League are also at loggerheads in the lower house of parliament over Five Star's demand in an anti-corruption bill to scrap time limits on how long people can be prosecuted after an initial trial. Salvini has said the government must "avoid trials that last forever, also for the innocent, which would be a defeat for everyone."

It appears that if the internal bickering within Italy's "coalition" government continues, the EU may just opt to wait to discuss the Italian deficit with whatever government comes as a replacement.