The second day of President
Sergio Mattarella's consultations on Italy's government crisis
began Friday with the smaller parties set to make the walk up
Rome's Quirinal Hill.
Fully 17 leaders of small caucuses will meet with the
president, telling them how they think he should proceed.
Mattarella is said to want to decide as quickly as possible
after seeing ex-premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD),
the last group, on Saturday.
The opposition, anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S),
Italy's second-biggest party after the PD, are insisting on a
snap vote without a new government, as are the biggest party on
the right, the anti-euro, anti-immigrant Northern League party.
Mattarella has said a vote would be "inconceivable" without
first making the electoral law consistent for the Lower House
and the Senate.
The Constitutional Court is set to rule on the Italicum
election law, which currently covers just the House, on January
24.
It is widely expected to find its winner's bonus, the two
rounds of voting, and perhaps also the lack of constituencies
allowing Italians to pick all their MPs, as against Italy's
founding charter.
Mattarella may name a member of the PD such as Foreign
Minister Paolo Gentiloni or Culture Minister Dario Franceschini,
or a technocrat such as Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, or
an institutional figure such as Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso.
They may be tasked either with taking the country to the vote
after the Constitutional Court ruling and framing a new election
law, or trying to reach the end of the legislative term in
February 2018 in order to meet important international
commitments such as the anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in
March and Italy's duty presidency of the G7 in the second half
of the year.
andare
alle urne senza passare da un nuovo governo. Forza Italia è
sulla stessa linea, ma Berlusconi apre a diverse ipotesi. Piace,
invece, alla minoranza Pd l'ipotesi di un nuovo esecutivo a
guida Dem. Franceschini stronca i retroscena: "sto con il
segretario".
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