Italy’s President has begun formal consultations with the aim of quickly giving the country a new government.
The task of trying to form a governing coalition is expected to go to far-right leader Giorgia Meloni after her Brothers of Italy party triumphed in the country’s general election last month.
However, relations with a key coalition partner recently soured over former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s sympathies with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella will decide who gets tasked with assembling a coalition after a meeting on Friday with the key players – Ms Meloni, Mr Berlusconi and the third main right-wing figure, League leader Matteo Salvini.
Ms Meloni’s party has staunchly backed Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion.
Relations with campaign ally Mr Berlusconi have suffered after audio tapes emerged this week of him expressing sympathy for Mr Putin during a conversation with legislators from his Forza Italia party.
Mr Mattarella started sounding out parliamentary and party leaders by receiving the new leader of the Italian senate, Ignazio La Russa.
He is a co-founder of Ms Meloni’s party, which has neo-fascist roots. Mr La Russa described his 15-minute session with Mr Mattarella as “cordial”.
Mr Mattarella devoted his first day of consultations to smaller parties and the larger opposition forces, which are squabbling among themselves, notably the populist 5-Star Movement and the centre-left Democratic Party.
Throughout campaigning for the September 25 election, Mr Berlusconi insisted he was an unwavering champion of Nato and the United States.
But leaked audio tapes of his take on the Ukraine war, made public by Italian news agency LaPresse, seemed to reveal otherwise.
Mr Berlusconi, holding court with party legislators, sought to justify Mr Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine nearly eight months ago, saying the Russian leader had aimed for a two-week incursion with the goal of installing a “decent, sensible” government in Ukraine’s capital.
A longtime admirer of Mr Putin’s, the former Italian premier is also heard writing off Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskiy, saying “let’s forget” him.
In an interview published on Thursday in Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, Mr Berlusconi accused the media of “distorted and frankly ridiculous interpretations on my thoughts” on Russia and Ukraine.
He denied trying to justify Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
“On the contrary, I reiterate, for the latest, and I hope, last time, that my position coincides absolutely with that of the Italian government, of the European Union, of the (Nato) Atlantic Alliance, of our American allies, and it’s a clear-cut condemnation of the military attack against a free and sovereign State,” the newspaper quoted the former premier as saying.
Ms Meloni threw down a gauntlet to Mr Berlusconi with a statement on Wednesday night in which she said there was no room for foreign policy differences in the government she intends to lead.
“Whoever isn’t in agreement with this cornerstone, will not be able to be part of the government, even if it means no government,” she said.
Mr Berlusconi has pushed for a top aide, former European Parliament president Antonio Tajani, to become the foreign minister in a Meloni government.
It was not immediately clear if Mr Berlusconi’s sympathy towards Mr Putin had eliminated that option.
Mr Tajani wasted no time in trying for damage control. He tweeted he would be attending the summit on Friday of the European People’s Party, a conservative political grouping that includes Forza Italia. At that forum, he said he would confirm his and his party’s support for Ukraine.
“In every institutional venue, we have always supported freedom and condemned the Russian invasion,” Mr Tajani wrote.
