Caretaker Democratic Party (PD)
leader Maurizio Martina said Thursday that the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) had made an important
step forward but closing off the option of forming a government
with the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League.
But Martina also stressed that "at the same time, we do not
hide the differences between us".
He was speaking after a second meeting with Lower House
Speaker Roberto Fico as part of the latter's exploratory mandate
to try to break Italy's post-election political deadlock.
Fico will meet a delegation from the M5S, his own party,
later on Thursday as part of his mandate to see if a M5S-PD
government is possible and then report back to President Sergio
Mattarella.
Last week Senate Speaker Maria Elisabetta Casellati failed to
make a breakthrough with a similar exploratory mandate to
Fico's.
Casellati's mandate involved verifying the possibility of
forming a government made up of the centre right, the coalition
that came first in last month's inconclusive general election,
and the M5S, the biggest single party in the new parliament.
The PD, which led the last three Italian governments, had
pledged to stay in opposition after registering its worst-ever
showing in last-month's inconclusive general election.
But Martina opened up to possible dialogue after the first
round of talks with Figo on Tuesday, saying he considered it a
"development" that M5S chief Luigi Di Maio has closed off the
option of forming a government with the rightwing, Euroskeptic
League, the lead party in the centre right.
Many within the PD, including ex-premier and former leader
Matteo Renzi and a large section of grassroots members, are
against negotiating with the M5S, which has frequently vilified
the centre-left group.
Martina said Thursday that the centre-left group will hold a
meeting of its national directorate on May 3 to decide whether
and how to take part in government-formation talks with the M5S.
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