Silvio Berlusconi, the leader
of the opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, met
Premier Matteo Renzi at his office for talks that lasted about
an hour on Tuesday.
The talks took place hours before the start of voting on
the floor of the Senate on a bill for a new election system and
nine days before the start of voting for a new president to
replace Giorgio Napolitano, who resigned last week.
Berlusconi, who is backing Renzi's bill for a new election
system, the so-called Italicum, was accompanied by his close
aides Denis Verdini and Gianni Letta.
Renzi has said he will try to reach as broad a consensus
as possible on the new head of state, whom he argues should be a
good, independent arbiter of Italian politics for his seven-year
term and not a standard bearer for the centre-left.
However, Renzi may also have to contend with a minority
within his own centre-left Democratic Party (PD), who are
unhappy about the premier doing more deals with Berlusconi,
after those struck with the three-time premier on the Italicum
and on an overhaul of the country's political machinery.
On Monday Berlusconi met with his former anointed heir,
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who split from Berlusconi's
group in 2013 to form the splinter New Centre Right (NCD) party
- now a junior partner in Renzi's governing alliance.
Berlusconi and Alfano reportedly agreed to push for the
new president to be a centrist and not a PD member.
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