Casellati consultations to resume

(ANSA) - Rome, April 19 - Senate Speaker Maria Elisabetta Casellati will hold a second round of talks on Thursday as part of a mandate handed her by President Sergio Mattarella to see if it is possible for her to break Italy's post-election political deadlock.
    Her 'exploratory' mandate involves verifying the possibility of seeing if it possible to form a government made up of the centre right, the coalition that came first in last month's inconclusive general election, and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), the biggest single party in the new parliament.
    The first round of talks with Casellati on Wednesday hit a brick wall when M5S leader Luigi Di Maio reiterated his refusal to form a government with the centre right as a whole and said he would only strike a deal with the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League.
    Di Maio also gave League leader Matteo Salvini a one-week deadline to decide whether to dump his alliance partner, ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia, to make a deal possible.
    Casellati will hold talks with the leaders of the centre right, who will come together on Thursday after going separately as individual parties in Wednesday consultations, at 14:30.
    The Speaker, an FI member, is set to meet an M5S delegation at 17:30.
    Casellati must report back to Mattarella on Friday.