League leader Matteo Salvini said
after government-formation consultations with Senate Speaker
Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati Thursday that the centre
right hoped the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) would
drop its veto against centre-right Forza Italia (FI) leader
Silvio Berlusconi.
"We nourish the well-founded hope that we will finally
overcome the politics of No that many have carried forward until
today". said Salvini, who leads the centre-right coalition after
winning 17.5% of the vote in the March 4 general election,
compared to FI's 14%.
The coalition as a whole got 37%.
Salvini said that "we trust that the second party (the M5S)
will overcome its vetoes and finally agree to sit down to the
table speaking of programmes and not posts", referring to M5S
leader Luigi Di Maio's insistence on becoming premier after
winning 32% of the vote and becoming Italy's biggest party.
Salvini said that "for us a government with those who lost
the general election (the centre-left Democratic Party) is
unacceptable".
The PD slumped to its worst-ever showing, getting just 18& on
March 4.
The M5S has made separate overtures to the League and to the
PD and is drawing up common programme points with both.
The PD is sticking to ex-leader Matteo Renzi's call to stay
in opposition.
Salvini also said Casallati's exploratory mandate was "the
last call to responsibility" and reiterated "let's talk about
issues and not posts".
The M5S will speak to Casellati at 17:30 Thursday and are
expected to reiterate their Berlusconi veto dooming the Senate
Speaker's bid to find a way out of the deadlock.
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