Cabinet Secretary Maria Elena
Boschi has "cleared up" that she did not exert pressure on
bourse regulator CONSOB chief Giuseppe Vegas to try to stop a
merger between her father's Banca Etruria and the Banca Popolare
di Vicenza in 2014, Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Friday.
"I don't take the liberty of passing judgement on the
parliamentary commission of inquiry into the banking crisis, but
I hope the next few weeks are not dominated by rows over banks,"
he said.
Gentiloni added that Boschi, who was minister for relations
with parliament at the time of her meeting with Vegas, would be
a candidate for his Democratic Party in a general election in
March.
"I hope she wins," he said.
Gentiloni went on to say that the possibility of an election
ticket in his name at the next general election was "not
realistic".
He said the hypothesis of a Gentiloni List "doesn't seem
realistic to me".
Gentiloni said "my resemblance to (former premier Lamberto)
Dini, a great personality (who led a transitional government
from 1995 to '96), is scant.
"I'm part of a party, I'm a leader in a party, on loan at the
moment to do the job I'm doing".
Gentiloni said it was his "mission" to complete the
legislative term that ends early next year.
Gentiloni was answering a question on the possibility of his
becoming a centre-left candidate to lead a new government.
The premier went on to say that Italy is not the black sheep
in the EU in terms of political stability.
"There is a high number of countries in which, sadly,
fragile majorities and minority governments exist," he
said after the EU summit.
"But there is no picture in which Italy is the black sheep
and the others are hyper stable," the premier said.
He said the Italian elections were being viewed like those
that took place in Germany or will happen in Catalonia, noting
that "the frequency of Italian governments is not a surprise".
He said "Indeed, some people talk of an Italianisation of
their situations, (while) it is an opposite dynamic".
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