Talks on parliamentary Speakers had
to start from scratch Thursday after he centre right said it was
sticking with former Forza Italia (FI) Senate Whip Paolo Romani
as its candidate for Senate Speaker despite a veto from the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), the other big winner
in the March 4 general election.
The decision was taken by FI leader Silvio Berlusconi at an
ongoing summit in Rome with anti-migrant Euroskeptic League
leader Matteo Salvini, the centre right's premier candidate, and
the other main ally, rightist nationalist Brothers of Italy
(FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni.
The centre right and the M5S appeared to have sealed a deal
to hand the Senate Speakership to the former and the House post
to the latter.
But FI heavyweight Romani, 70, is opposed by the M5S because
of a probe into his allegedly illicit use of a municipal
cellphone in the northern city of Monza.
The centre right, which got 37% of the vote on march 4
compared to the M5S's 32%, has enough votes in the Senate to
vote in Romani on its own in the final ballot, political experts
say.
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio repeated that Romani, for them, is
"unvotable".
Asked therefore if the deal with the M5S was off, Salvini
said "it certainly looks that way" and voiced the hope the
centre-left Democratic Party (PD), reeling from an election
debacle, would come to the table.
PD caretaker leader Maurizio Martina said the model being
used by the centre right and the M5S was mistaken and they
should start from scratch, involving everyone, the Speakers
ideally being "the patrimony of all".
PD former Lower House Whip Ettore Rosato said the PD would
not vote for Romani.
"We won't vote for Romani. We have no intention of voting for
Romani," he said on TV show Porta a Porta.
"Then, if we're asked for an assessment (of him), we say that
he has been an opposition Whip who has always had serious and
respectful conduct."
The House Whips will meet in the M5S offices at 20:00
Thursday, the M5S said, to discuss the House Speakership.
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