Mattarella wants ‘serious’ government, M5S claim Chamber

President Sergio Mattarella.

ROME – President Sergio Mattarella will only look to hand the premiership of Italy to a stable majority and a party with a full list of ministers, according to La Stampa, as tensions resurfaced in the right-wing coalition as to the best means of securing the necessary votes in Parliament.

 Mattarella is said to have three central criteria for Italy’s next Prime Minister. Italy’s next government must be able to command a secure majority in Parliament, have a clear programme of work for the next legislature and a full list of ministers.

 It comes as Italy’s parties look to advance their candidates into the critical presidencies of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies when their representatives reconvene in Rome on March 23.

 The Five Star Movement have demanded the position of the speaker for the Lower House, with one of the party’s leaders in Parliament, Giulia Grillo, claiming that the “popular will” must be represented in the elected heads of the Chambers.

 The party is said want either Emilio Carelli or Riccardo Fraccaro to head the Chamber of Deputies, with Danilo Toninelli in the respective Senate position.

 However, that will depend in large part on whether the right-wing coalition can advance a credible rival candidate, with talk that Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, could be rewarded for her loyalty to the League’s leader, Matteo Salvini, with the lower house position.

 The right-wing coalition has appeared fractious in the last few days, with Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi following apparently rival strategies for securing a majority, according to Il Gironale.

 Salvini has downplayed the rivalry between him and Forza Italia’s leader, Silvio Berlusconi, and used an interview with La Stampa to deny that the latter was annoyed at his handling of negotiations with M5S.

 He also eliminated the idea of an accord with the Democratic Party (PD), said to be favoured by Forza Italia’s leadership. Salvini argued that the “PD says no to everything and everyone. This, however, is a problem for the PD and not mine.”

 In an interesting aside, Salvini also told La Stampa that the electoral laws could be “very easily” changed if needs be, caliming that “it will only take a week to do it.”

 The comments are indicative of the strong position that both the League and M5S feel themselves to be in with current negotiations. Il Messaggero carried a survey today that suggested that both parties have seen their popularity increase in the weeks since the election, with a return to the polls likely to hand them even more seats.

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