Italy's PD says might talk to 5-Star if center-right shut out
ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s center-left Democratic Party (PD) said on Tuesday it would be willing to hold coalition talks with the 5-Star Movement on condition the anti-establishment party breaks contact with the center-right.
Italy has been stuck in political limbo since inconclusive elections at the beginning of March, which saw a conservative alliance led by the League win the most seats and the 5-Star emerge as the largest single party.
Neither group came near to taking a parliamentary majority.
Preliminary contacts between the two about the possibility of working together have failed to make any headway, with the 5-Star only seeking a deal with the League and not its ally, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
Increasingly annoyed by the prolonged impasse, President Sergio Mattarella has instructed the head of the lower house of parliament to seek another solution and see if the PD, which lost heavily in March, might agree to link up with 5-Star.
After meeting the lower house chief Roberto Fico, the PD’s acting leader Maurizio Martina told reporters he would consider talks with 5-Star if “there is no longer any possibility of an agreement between the 5-Star, League and the center-right”.
Martina has previously indicated that the PD should move into opposition after its election rout and the party is deeply split over its future direction.
“In a spirit of loyal cooperation, not hiding the differences and different starting points, also from a policy standpoint on essential issues, we vow to examine this possible course of work (with 5-Star) involving our leadership groups,” Martina said after his talks with Fico.
Since the vote, 5-Star head Luigi Di Maio has repeatedly reached out to League leader Matteo Salvini, but on Monday for the first time he appeared to give up on him.
“Let it not be said that I didn’t try right up to the end, now good luck to him (Salvini),” Di Maio wrote on Facebook.