Talks to form new Italy coalition ‘positive’

Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said talks Friday with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement on forming a workable coalition government had been "positive".

Published: 24 August 2019 08:24 CEST

Talks to form new Italy coalition 'positive'

M5S leader Luigi Di Maio on Friday. Photo: AFP

The country's president Sergio Mattarella on Thursday gave the parties four days to reach an accord following the collapse of Italy's dysfunctional populist alliance this week.

The Five Star Movement (M5S), which had been governing Italy with Matteo Salvini's far-right League party, has indicated it may be open to an alliance with the left instead — previously almost unthinkable after years of vicious arguments.

Salvini pulled the plug on the coalition earlier this month and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned on Tuesday.

The discussions between PD and the Movement (M5S) had found “ample agreement on social and environmental issues”, negotiator Graziano Delrio from the Democratic Party said after two hours of talks.

“It's really a good start,” he said, adding that further meetings over the draft budget for the eurozone's third largest economy would be held “in the coming hours”.

Italy needs to approve a budget in the next few months or could face an automatic rise in value-added tax that would hit the least well-off families the hardest and likely plunge the country into recession.

PD leader Zingaretti has said his lawmakers would form an alliance dependent on five conditions.

They include a radical shift in Italy's zero-tolerance policy on migrants crossing the Mediterranean, pro-European policies and a focus on improving living standards.

The M5S has listed ten key policies, including a plan to slash the number of lawmakers in parliament from 950 to 605.

The Movement's negotiator, Francesco D'Uva, said he had asked the PD for guarantees the lawmakers would be cut.

The parties only have a few days to find common ground.

Mattarella said consultations will begin again Tuesday, but did not say for how long they would run.

Italian media speculated that he might wait until Wednesday to address the nation and either announce a new government — and name its prime minister — or send the country to the polls.

“Mattarella has been clear, he wants a credible and sustainable government,” said Manlio Di Stefano, a junior foreign minister and one of the M5S's most prominent lawmakers.

He also ruled out a revival of the M5S-League coalition saying Salvini “has betrayed us and is untrustworthy”.

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” – adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The Report programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.