Count ter or not? Where are we with the consultations for a new government

The consultations between the President of the Republic and the parties continue. Autonomie, Leu and the Europeists-Maie-Democratic Center group support an increasingly difficult Conte-ter, while + Europe and Action ask for a new premier

(photo: Alessandro Di Meo / Getty Images) The consultations with the parties are resumed on the second day of meetings at the Quirinale: on the morning of January 28 it was the turn of the Autonomies group, which expressed its willingness to support any pro-European majority and preference for a Conte-ter government. The possibility - already remote - of early elections seems to be further away, after the declarations of the Forza Italia senator Luigi Vitali, who decided not to switch to the so-called Responsibles, that is the new group born to support a new Conte government, alleging that the center-right he would be well disposed to a government of national unity.

The latest statements by the Northern League leader Matteo Salvini also seem to indicate an opening in this sense, while excluding support for the outgoing Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. “We will say no to the cow market. When that gentleman will no longer be in Palazzo Chigi, we will think about the rest, ”Salvini said last night. Vitali, who yesterday announced his support for Conte, after a phone call from the leader of Fi Silvio Berlusconi, retraced his steps.

After the Autonomies it was the turn of the representatives of Liberi e Uguali . Following the meeting with the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the senator of the left party Loredana de Petris announced the choice of the group to support President Conte because it is necessary to "continue the work done so far in Europe".

On the other hand, the representatives of the liberal Action and + Europe parties confirmed their refusal to a Count-ter. Senator Emma Bonino, in a very severe speech addressed to the newly born pro-Conte parliamentary group - Europeanists-Maie-Democratic Center - said that "we will not support a government with the current Prime Minister, but we are open to a new majority made by all the reforming and pro-European forces ".

As we write, it is precisely the new parliamentary group object of Bonino's criticism that is at Colle: it includes former members of the 5-star Movement, some escaped from Fi and the centrists of Bruno Tobaccos. Italia viva and the Democratic Party should be received in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the leader of Iv Matteo Renzi continues to be at the center of the controversy and negotiations, claiming in the newspapers that he does not veto any, but to ask for a "true change of pace ". In the M5s, which in words continues to ensure its unified support for Conte, the wing of the loyalists of Alessandro Di Battista would like Renzi out of the government and in the center-left the secretary of the Pd Nicola Zingaretti said that with the former premier in the majority they would verify "legitimate doubts of reliability for the future". At the moment, however, there are no alternative majorities - in the Senate the leaders are not enough - and according to what reported by the chroniclers the so-called bridges between the Democratic Party and Italia viva are working to mend the rift.