ROME (AP) — The economist who tried to form an Italian government amid political gridlock says he's "truly worried" about the new populist leaders' enacting measures that will swell Italy's national debt.

Carlo Cottarelli told foreign reporters in Rome on Friday that ultimately it won't be EU regulations that will work against the populist agenda but "the markets that aren't accommodating" about increasing Italy's already staggeringly high national debt.

President Sergio Mattarella last month asked Cottarelli, an expert in trimming public spending, to form a "technical" government to guide the country to a new election after Mattarella refused to allow two populist parties to forge a coalition with a proposed euro-skeptic economy minister.

Ultimately, though, the parties dropped their demands for the economy minister, Cottarelli stepped aside, and Italy's first populist government was born.