EUROPE DIPLOMATIC

Luigi Di Maio stepped down as leader of Italy’s co-governing 5-Star movement, as it seeks to stem a wave of defections that threatens the government’s parliamentary majority.

Luigi Di Maio stepped down on Wednesday as leader of Italy’s co-governing 5-Star movement, as it seeks to stem a wave of defections that threatens the government’s parliamentary majority.

He said Vito Crimi, the head of the anti-establishment party’s internal rules committee, would take over as caretaker until a new leader is chosen following a party congress to be held in the coming months.

The move by Di Maio, who will remain as foreign minister, comes days before a regional election in Emilia Romagna in which the right-wing League is threatening to end 75 years of uninterrupted PD rule.

That outcome could put the five-month-old government’s survival at risk.

He said Vito Crimi, the head of the anti-establishment party’s internal rules committee, would take over as caretaker until a new leader is chosen following a party congress to be held in the coming months.