Monti sees PdL deal without Berlusconi
Ex-PM says business doesn't like PM's agenda, claims Catholics
25 January, 11:18
(ANSA) - Rome, January 25 - Outgoing Premier Mario Monti
said Friday his centrist reform coalition might make a
post-election deal with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of
Freedom (PdL) party, but only without Berlusconi.Monti said a deal was possible not only with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), currently ahead in the polls, but also with the centre-right PdL.
But any "collaboration" with the centre right, he said, would have to come after it has got rid of the cork that blocks reforms".
The outgoing premier, who presents himself as an alternative to left and right, has in the past said similar things about the centre-left, asking it to drop an alliance with the leftwing and allegedly anti-reform SEL party.
Berlusconi, for his part, said employers' association Confindustria was "disappointed" by Monti's platform because it would allegedly continue an austerity drive that has pushed Italy into recession, and claimed he had the Catholic vote sewn up.
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