Giuseppe Conte could be reappointed as Italian prime minister | Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images 5Stars get green light to form new Italian government with center left Parties agree to reinstate Giuseppe Conte as prime minister.

ROME — Italy's president gave the populist 5Star Movement his blessing Wednesday to form a new government with the center-left Democratic Party.

The new coalition still needs approval from parliament in a vote of confidence. President Sergio Mattarella's spokesman Giovanni Grasso said the parties had reached a deal to reappoint Giuseppe Conte, who belongs to neither group but is very close to the 5Stars, as prime minister. Conte's role had been a point of contention during negotiations between the parties because some members of the Democratic Party (PD) wanted to let go of all vestiges of the old coalition.

The 5Stars' prior coalition government with the far-right League collapsed earlier this month after League leader Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on their partnership, ultimately leading to Conte's resignation as prime minister. Mattarella held consultations last week and this week to try to decide on a way forward, including whether to call a snap election if no alternative coalition could be formed.

Grasso said Mattarella will officially give Conte the mandate to form a new government on Thursday morning and Conte will then have a few days to choose his Cabinet.

"We told Mattarella we are available to enter a new long-term political alliance with the Democratic Party to continue the mandate 11 million voters gave us last year without running away from our responsibilities," said 5Star leader Luigi Di Maio after a meeting with the president.

His words echo those of his PD counterpart Nicola Zingaretti, who earlier on Wednesday said his party is determined to try to rule with the 5Stars to give Italy a stable government that can face a complicated economic situation, create jobs, focus on a so-called Green New Deal, and put an end to social tensions across the country.

"We have made it very clear to the president this would not be a continuation of the past but a very clean break from it ... it would mean turning the page on the past," Zingaretti said.

One of the issues that still needs to be tackled by the two parties is Di Maio's future role. The 5Star leader asked to be reappointed as deputy prime minister. The PD, however, has so far refused that request, arguing that because the 5Stars got their pick for prime minister, the deputy position should go to the PD.

Meanwhile, after meeting with Mattarella, League leader Salvini claimed Conte's reappointment "was decided in Biarritz [at the G7 summit] by Brussels, Berlin and Paris." Conte had attended the international leaders' gathering in his capacity as caretaker prime minister where he apparently won the support of U.S. President Donald Trump. Salvini also accused the EU of scheming to block his party out of government.