Italy is set for a crunch week on an
election law that may lead to elections this autumn.
Ex-premier and Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi said
a deal is possible this week with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's
centre-right Forza Italia (FI) and comedian Beppe Grillo's
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) on a German-style
proportional-representation (PR) model with an entry bar set at
5%.
FI has already come out in favour of the German model and
yesterday M5S voters voted online to back it too.
On Sunday evening Grillo said he was however against
"compromises" and any "horse trading" with the other leading
forces.
The anti-euro, anti-immigrant Northern League attacked: "The
'Germanellum' is a shady-deal law".
But League leader Matteo Salvini said "anything is okay as
long as we vote immediately".
FI bigwig Renato Brunetta, a former finance minister,
responded by saying another previously touted law, the PD's
half-PR and half first-past-the-post 'Rosatellum', was "not a c
A PD bigwig and Renzi confidant, Transport Minister Graziano
Delrio, said "we have to bring the forces together to frame
common rules for all".
Another PD figure very close to Renzi, Agriculture Minister
Maurizio Martina, said "the objective is the maximum possible
agreement".
Small parties have come out against the 5% entry bar, which
they say is too high and will block them - although the
Progressive and Democratic Movement (MDP), a PD splinter group,
reckon they will be able to make it.
Tuesday will see a key meeting of the PD to assess progress
on the law and possibly give a green light to a pact with FI and
the M5S.
On Monday PD and M5S Lower House delegations met to discuss a
possible agreement.
Elections in the autumn, instead of at the end of the
parliamentary session's natural term in February 2018, will pose
the risk of needing extraordinary administration for next year's
budget, or an early approval of it, pundits say.
The PD is already gearing up to cope with this eventuality,
sources in the party said.
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