Anti-migrant Euroskeptic
League leader Matteo Salvini said Friday he would not leave his
chief ally, centre-right Forza Italia( FI) leader Silvio
Berlusconi on Monday as erroneously reported by several
newspapers Friday.
"Today's papers say that I'll leave Berlusconi on Monday. I
understand why they're selling less and less," said Salvini, who
has chided Berlusconi for insulting the League's possible
government ally, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S).
"It's not true that it will happen. I don't see why I should
change my mind every quarter of an hour: I'm not like
(ex-Democratic Party leader Matteo) Renzi and (M5S leader Luigi)
Di Maio".
"I present myself at the elections with a team and I go
forward with that team".
Salvini said the League was interested in
government-formation dialogue with those who came second in the
March 4 general election, referring to the anti-establishment
5-Star Movement (M5S), and not with those who came third,
referring to the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
"If (President Sergio) Mattarella gives the Italians a week
of soap opera with Renzi and Di Maio I don't know what the
papers will be able to write for a week," he said.
"So they're going to fill the papers with false hypotheses
that concern us," he said.
Salvini added that there was a "zero chance" of an M5S-PD
government and said that he did not feel "threatened" by
Berlusconi's TV empire.
He reiterated that if no government deal is forged between
the M5S and the PD then Italy should return to the polls.
The M5S and PD are now engaged in very tentative
government-formation talks, which must be approved by the party
executive on May 3, after a bid to form a centre-right-M5S
government failed.
The centre right came out on top in the March 4 general
election with 37% while the M5S was the top party with 32%,
ahead of the PD which slumped to 18%, its worst-ever showing.
Di Maio has accused Berlusconi of using his three TV stations
for unfavourable coverage of the M5S, highlighting the
ex-premiera nd media magnate's alleged conflict of interest.
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