League party working for citizens says Salvini

Italy's far-right League and centre-right alliance leader Matteo Salvini on Friday claimed his party was striving to improve the lot of ordinary Italians in its ongoing talks on a programme of government with the populist Five-Star Movement.

''We want to repeal the Fornero law (deeply unpopular 2011 legislation that raised Italians' retirement age), slash taxes and red tape, reduce migrant landings and increase deportations, put dignity back into work, cut waste and privileges, defend Italy in Europe and give autonomy to local communities," Salvini wrote on Facebook.

"We also want to end citizens' debt collection disputes, help the disabled (really!) and guarantee the right to legitimate self-defence," Salvini added.

"We are working for this," he said.

Negotiations on a tie-up between the League and Five-Star were due to continue over the weekend and a new government could be announced on Monday.

Italy has been in political limbo since Italy's inconclusive 4 March national election in which populist and rightwing parties made strong gains but there was no outright winner.

Several previous rounds of talks with political leaders since the March ballot collapsed amid a mesh of seemingly irreconcilable demands.