Now is not the time for an election in Italy

THE REMARKABLE(M5S)MSMSMSGDP thing about the fall of the Italian government this week was that it did not happen sooner. Parties that depict themselves as outsiders, such as the Northern League and the Five Star Movement , typically find their first stint in office a fiasco. A coalition of two such outfits, one a hard-right nativist group and the other an eclectic set of economic populists, greens and internet utopians, was bound to come unglued. Moreover, whereas the 5 finished first in last year’s election, the League has since far surpassed it, polling at 37% to the 5’s 17%. The League’s leader, Matteo Salvini, has proved more astute than the 5’s Luigi di Maio. It is not surprising that he pulled his support from Giuseppe Conte, the prime minister, in a bid to trigger an election and win the job for himself. Just now, however, an election would be a grave mistake for Italy and Europe.That might seem unfair. After all, the composition of parliament does not reflect public opinion. But this is a precarious moment for Italy (). Its economy is feeble, with growth this year expected to be just 0.1%. Its immense government debt, of more than 130% of , is the greatest single threat to the euro zone. An election would take months, threatening Italy’s efforts to pass a budget by the end of the year. That could upset markets at a time when much of Europe is already on the edge of recession.