A failure to deliver promised
reforms, and not any fall-out from the upcoming European
elections, poses the gravest existential threat to the Italian
government, Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday.
Renzi reiterated his threat to quit politics if his planned
institutional reforms aimed at overhauling Italy's costly,
slow-moving political machinery fail to come to fruition.
"If they don't let me do the reforms, then my project will
have failed and I'll go home," Renzi, the head of the
centre-left Democratic Party (PD), told the Radio Anch'io
station.
Renzi initially won the support of ex-premier Silvio
Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition centre-right Forza
Italia (FI) party, for the reform package, which includes a plan
to transform the Senate into a leaner assembly of
local-government representatives with limited lawmaking powers
to make passing legislation easier.
But Berlusconi has said his support for the package can no
longer be guaranteed in recent weeks.
Renzi also faces opposition to the plan from inside the PD,
although he said that this is not what worries him.
"The risk is that someone, probably not someone in the
party, but someone in parliament, will try to stop the reforms,"
the premier said.
Renzi has stressed, however, that he will not quit even if
the PD finishes second to the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement
(M5S) in Sunday's European elections.
BERLUSCONI FEARS M5S WIN COULD TRIGGER ELECTIONS.
Berlusconi said Thursday he feared a victory by
comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo's M5S) in the European
elections could trigger early general elections in Italy.
"I think we should look at the hypothesis of early
elections very carefully," the three-time premier told La7
television.
"The parliamentary term won't last (until its full term) in
2018. We'll have new elections within 18 months at most unless
something traumatic happens like Grillo winning the European
elections," he said.
"May God protect us from that".
Renzi, by contrast, went on to insist his coalition
government will not collapse even if the PD finishes second to
the M5S in Sunday's vote.
The PD had a big lead in polls, before a pre-election ban
on their publication kicked in two weeks ago.
But Grillo is confident his M5S, who are second in the
surveys after capturing a stunning 25% of the vote in last
year's general election, can come first with a late surge.
Berlusconi called for general elections in November after
he pulled his support from the left-right coalition government
of Renzi's predecessor and PD colleague Enrico Letta, shortly
before the media magnate was ejected from parliament following a
definitive tax-fraud conviction.
But he has apparently had a change of heart given the
popularity of the M5S, whose stated aim is to destroy the
current party system it blames for corruption and economic
decline.
Berlusconi, who has compared Grillo to Adolf Hitler, may
also be reluctant to see Italy return to the ballot box given
FI's showing in recent polls, where it was in third place with
under 20% of voter support.
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