Centre-right Forza Italia (FI)
leader Silvio Berlusconi on Friday accused the ani-establishment
5-Star Movement (M5S) of "continuing only to fling mud at us" by
saying a State-Mafia talks verdict should force his main ally,
Matteo Salvini's rightwing populist League, to ditch him.
According to prosecutor Nino Di Matteo, the verdict on talks
aimed at stopping a Cosa Nostra bombing campaign showed that
Berlusconi's top aide Marcello Dell'Utri, now serving seven
years for mafia ties, was the go-between who relayed the Mob's
requests to the 1994 Berlusconi-led government.
Berlusconi said: "I am sure that the Italians understand very
well the difference between those who, like us, are seeking
solutions for the government of the country and those who, on
the other hand, continue only to fling mud at us and demonise
us".
Berlusconi added that an executive with the M5S was
"impossible".
He said FI had agreed to talks involving the M5S out of a
sense of responsibility, talks which "worried us very much" and
which ended in the conclusion that a government with the M5S was
not "to be desired, or possible".
He again called for a centre-right government to get needed
votes in parliament on its programme.
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