FI dissident Fitto urges overhaul

(ANSA) - Rome, February 4 - Long-standing party tensions came to a head Wednesday when Raffaele Fitto, a leading dissident in Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) party, said a "break with the past" was essential.
    At a news conference, Fitto called for all posts in the centre-right party to be scrapped and new officials appointed by an FI congress or primaries.
    The party founded by Berlusconi, three-time former premier, "is in a swamp" and for too long its "hypocrisy" has prevented a necessary scrutiny of its internal problems, Fitto said. FI must recover from past "errors that cannot be underestimated," said Fitto, adding that he does not see any "political, legal or statutory value" in the position of FI chairman.
    Fitto also denounced as a failure the so-called Nazareno Pact on institutional reform struck almost a year ago between Berlusconi and Premier Matteo Renzi of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
    "There is no pact. There's (Renzi) who dictates things, changing every time, and (Berlusconi) who accepts," Fitto said. The pact focussed on an agreement between the two parties in promoting a new election law and a revamp of Italy's slow, costly political system.
    Fitto, 45, has led opposition to the 78-year-old Berlusconi's leadership which came to a head last week when Renzi imposed Sergio Mattarella as Italian president without FI's agreement.
    Mattarella was elected Saturday and officially installed in the position of head of State on Tuesday.
    Fitto said formal talks must be held regarding allegedly failed strategies and falling poll ratings, adding he would take his arguments across the country if necessary.
    "There are those who in the local chapters are doing more damage than hail," said Fitto, an MP from the Puglia region who lists his profession as 'politician'.
    "Change is necessary to give oxygen, breath, to thousands of local councillors, electors, and sympathizers who are far away".