President Sergio Mattarella called
Senate Speaker Elisabetta Alberti Casellati to his office on
Wednesday and gave her a mandate to see if it is possible to end
Italy's post-election political deadlock.
Italy does not look close to having a new government a month
and a half after its inconclusive election on March 4.
Last week Mattarella said the political parties had not made
significant progress towards the formation of a new government
after a second round of formal political consultations.
The head of State department's Secretary General Ugo Zampetti
said Casellati had been given the task of "verifying the
existence of parliamentary majority between the parties of the
centre-right coalition and the M5S".
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), the biggest
single party in the new parliament, has so far refused to do a
deal with the whole centre right, the biggest coalition.
The M5S has called on the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League,
the lead party in the centre right, to drop its ally, Silvio
Berlusconi's Forza Italia, to make a deal possible, but so far
it has refused.
Zampetti said Casellati, an FI member, had been requested to
give "an agreed-on indication for the awarding of a mandate of
premier to form the government.
"The president asked the Senate Speaker to report back by
Friday," he added.
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which has led the last
three Italian governments, has said it will be in the opposition
after it slumped to its worst-ever showing in last month's vote.
The League welcomed Mattarella's decision to give Casellati
an exploratory mandate for the formation of a new government.
"The mandate for Speaker Casellati is positive for the League
because the perimeter of centre right/5-Star government is
exactly what the Italian people decided," the League said in a
statement released by its press office.
"The League is ready to govern, even today. All that is
needed is for the others to stop quarrelling".
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said that he would reiterate the
anti-establishment group's previously stated positions in talks
with Senate Speaker Elisabetta Alberti Casellati after she was
given an exploratory government-formation mandate.
"I wish the Senate Speaker all the best for her work and I
thank President (Sergio) Mattarella for this decision," Di Maio
said in a video on Facebook.
"This is a precious opportunity for us to clarify things
because Italy cannot wait.
"We will present our positions and our proposals, consistent
with what we have said in recent days, to the Senate Speaker".
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