Gentiloni ready for autonomy steps (3)

(ANSA) - Venice, October 24 - Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Tuesday that he was "ready to make steps forward" following the referenda in Veneto and Lombardy at the weekend calling for greater autonomy. "I look on the debate opened by the referendum on the issue of autonomy with interest, respect and availability," Gentiloni said in Marghera, Venice. "We do not need more social lacerations, we need to stitch up the lacerations that the crisis caused," he added. Earlier on Tuesday Regional Affairs Undersecretary Gianclaudio Bressa said Tuesday that Veneto Governor Luca Zaia's call for the northern region to be granted special statute status is unacceptable. "It's a proposal that goes against the unity and inseparability of the country," Bressa told Radio Anch'io. "It is not a Catalan proposal, but a proposal that the Constitutional Court has rejected and Zaia knows it".