Interior Minister Marco Minniti
on Friday denied he was in favour of considering the option of a
grand coalition government.
Comments made by Minniti on Thursday that were interpreted as
an opening for a coalition executive featuring the Democratic
Party (PD) and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) rocked the
centre-left group.
PD leader and ex-premier Matteo Renzi has repeatedly ruled
out the hypothesis of a grand coalition after the March 4
general election.
"Yesterday I gave a simple answer to a question," Minniti
said on the fringes of a visit to Rome's Mosque.
"They asked if I would be interior minister in a government
of national unity, which is different to a grand-coalition
government.
"And I said yes, as long as my party was part of it, adding
that it would be an acknowledgement of my work, but that I
didn't consider it very probable and it would be in the hands of
the president anyway".
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