A key ally of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hinted at elections in November but was not optimistic about a reconciliation with Gianfranco Fini, according to reports yesterday.
The decision by Mr Fini, the powerful parliamentary speaker, to end his 16-year alliance with Mr Berlusconi last month cost the Prime Minister a comfortable parliamentary majority.
Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League and reform minister, said he was “not very optimistic” about a reconciliation between Mr Fini and Mr Berlusconi, barring the most exceptional circumstances.
“It’s difficult because Fini has his feet in two or three shoes, and in politics it’s already difficult to have your feet in two,” Mr Bossi told journalists on the sidelines of a party meeting Saturday in northern Italy.
Asked about an election forecast for the autumn or March 2011, Mr Bossi said: “I don’t know, that could happen in November.”
Interior minister and fellow Northern League member Roberto Maroni previously raised the possibility of elections in the autumn.
On August 4, Mr Berlusconi passed the first major test since the rupture when the lower house rejected a no-confidence motion against a junior justice minister under police investigation for alleged influence-peddling.
Mr Fini and his backers have founded a rival Future and Freedom for Italy (FLI) group which counts 33 lower house members and 10 senators.
They abstained from the no-confidence vote along with other centrist parties, sparing Berlusconi’s government an embarrassing defeat.
Mr Bossi warned that negotiating with individual FLI members to pass legislation was problematic.
“If each time Berlusconi goes to parliament, he is forced to solicit the votes (of FLI members), the road will become narrower,” Mr Bossi said.
Should Mr Berlusconi lose a confidence vote slated for September, he and his government would resign and President Giorgio Napolitano would poll parliament group leaders and see if there is the possibility and willingness to form a transition government.
The name of Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti has been raised in the Italian media as a possible consensus prime minister.
If no government can be formed, Mr Napolitano is expected to dissolve both branches of Parliament, at which point elections would be called.