Thursday is a crunch day for
Italy's government-formation or election consultations as
President Sergio Mattarella meets the big parties to map a way
forward.
The head of State met the centre-left Democratic Party (PD)
at 11 o'clock while he will wind up his consultations with the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) at five o'clock.
PD leader Nicola Zingaretti said the PD was open to a
"turning-point government" with the M5S or else early elections
in late October.
Zingaretti on Wednesday laid down five conditions for a
possible government with the M5S, their former fierce foes.
These include a change from the tough anti-migrant policies
of League leader Matteo Salvini, who pulled the plug on a
14-month executive with the M5S accusing them of inaction on
August 8.
A big stumbling block is that the M5S are insisting on
Premier Giuseppe Conte keeping his job in a new administration,
something which Zingaretti has vetoed.
The possibility of naming a woman premier, possibly former
justice minister Paola Severino or Constitutional Court Vice
President Marta Cartabia, has been aired by some observers in a
bid to meet Zingaretti's insistence on "discontinuity" from the
M5S-League government.
Mattarella also met the other centre-right party, Silvio
Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI), at noon, after which three-time
former premier Berlusconi called for a centre-right government
or fresh elections.
He had already seen Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI),
which reiterated that the only option was a rapid general
election.
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio has said he will reply to the PD's
offer once he has seen Mattarella.
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