Voting agst Italy would lead to tensions - Merkel

(ANSA) - Brussels, July 1 - Voting against Italy would lead to tensions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the EU summit put off debate on appointments for another day amid opposition from Italy, the Visegrad Group, and other countries to some of the proposed new occupants of the top jobs.
    "Voting against the entire Visegrad Group and a country like Italy would be very difficult" because "it would lead to tensions" in the future," the chancellor said.
    She said the EU leaders want to reach "the highest consensus possible". Merkel said "I'm aware that we are giving a bad image to the citizens, but we are working to find a compromise".
    Earlier Premier Giuseppe Conte said the "prefabricated Osaka package" including Dutch Socialist Frans Timmermans as new European Commission President had left him and 10-11 other countries "perplexed" and he had voted against it.