Jean-Claude Juncker has said Italians need to work harder, be less corrupt and stop looking to the EU to rescue the country’s poor regions, in comments unlikely to ease the fraught political battle over Italy’s future relationship with Brussels.

Days after the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, defended Italy’s place in the eurozone against the country’s populist leaders, the president of the European commission said he was in “deep love” with “bella Italia”, but could not accept that all the country’s problems should be blamed on the EU or the commission.

“Italians have to take care of the poor regions of Italy. That means more work; less corruption; seriousness,” Juncker said. “We will help them as we always did. But don’t play this game of loading with responsibility the EU. A country is a country, a nation is a nation. Countries first, Europe second.”

Officials in Brussels and markets around the world are awaiting the outcome of ongoing talks between Italy’s two populist leaders, Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement (M5S) and Matteo Salvini of the far-right League, on forming a new government.

After making the remarks during a question and answer session in Brussels, Juncker added it would be best to be “silent and prudent and cautious” this week, whenever he was asked about Italy. “I have full confidence in the genius of the Italian people,” he said.

Talks between Di Maio and Salvini have revived hopes that Italy might stave off a snap election, a prospect that shook Italian markets this week because of fears that a new poll might bolster populist and anti-euro forces in the country.

Juncker’s comments are likely to be met with scorn among some in Italy, as officials including Mattarella have sought to allay growing feelings of animosity towards Brussels and doubts about the benefits of inclusion in the eurozone.

Mattarella vetoed a proposal to appoint a vehemently anti-euro economist, Paolo Savona, to serve as finance minister. The move was deeply controversial and was initially met with calls for his impeachment, but Mattarella sought to justify his decision with a rousing defence of Italy’s role in the eurozone, and spoke of the importance of sending the right signals to the markets.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League, at a rally for local elections in Tuscany on Wednesday. Photograph: Riccardo Dalle Luche/EPA

His move was praised by European leaders, and it prompted Donald Tusk, president of the European council, to admonish a German budget commissioner who had suggested that a collapse in the markets might teach Italians not to vote for populists. “We are there to serve them, not to lecture them,” Tusk said in response to Günther Oettinger’s remarks.

Italian press reports have indicated that any agreement to form a new government involving the League, formerly known as the Northern League, and M5S would include the nomination – again – of Giuseppe Conte, a formerly obscure law professor, to serve as prime minister.



But Di Maio and Salvini are expected to back down on their earlier insistence that Savona should serve as finance minister.

There were also small indications that the populists would try to assure the markets they were not planning any big moves to hasten an Italian exit from the euro.

In Milan, a roadside sign outside the headquarters of the League that had previously declared “Basta Euro!” – a call to leave the currency – was painted over overnight.

Mattarella, who would have to formally approve the new government’s leader and slate of ministers, signalled on Wednesday evening that he was ready to install a technocratic government if a deal could not be reached, but decided to give Di Maio and Salvini more time to draw up a list of ministers that could be accepted by all parties.

The decision to “slow things down” – taken three months after an election that resulted in a hung parliament – was an attempt to try to head off a snap election, which would have to be held if the political impasse lasts much longer.

A bitter row between Mattarella and the two populists at the weekend had prompted the latter to step back – at least temporarily – from their plan to assume power.

On Sunday night, Mattarella refused to endorse the nomination of Savona for the finance brief, setting off a chain of events that caused turmoil on Italian markets: Conte resigned as prime minister-in-waiting and new elections appeared to be imminent, worrying markets and officials in Brussels. Their concern was that new elections could strengthen populist gains in Italy, leading to even greater uncertainty about the country’s future in the eurozone.

Those fears were slightly allayed on Wednesday after Di Maio opened the door to new talks with Salvini, and suggested he was open to reaching a compromise that could satisfy Mattarella’s objections.