A bid to form a government between the centre-left Democratic party (PD) and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) is “over” and there is now the risk of another general election, PD caretaker leader Maurizo Martina told the party executive Thursday. Martina said that M5S bid was a “closed chapter”. He added “we spoke a lot about them but the real issue was us, our role and function even when we are in a minority. “For me it was not to condemn ourselves to irrelevance and to pick up the challenge. “It was a riskier hypothesis but I imagined it as far as I could with that ambition. Now the fact is the risk of a snap vote”. It is “impossible” for the PD to accept a government led by the centre right, Martina said. He said a government led by the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League was “even more impossible” to accept.
Martina told the crunch meeting that the centre-left party “can’t get by with tactics and trials of strength” after its general election debacle. “We can’t get by just with some tactical moves”, he told a PD riven by splits between loyalists and critics of former leader Matteo Renzi. “It’s not a question of going back not going beyond, but to reprogramme to restart,” said Martina, who has clashed with Renzi after the latter scotched government-formation talks with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S). “We need a clear rethink of being together, and you have to take decisions after listening to one another and having talks with the desire to build a response together, not only with trials of strength.” Martina said “on our side there cannot be proscription lists”, referring to pro and anti-Renzi lists. He said “let’s stop being more ferocious among ourselves than with our opponents”. 
Source Ansa
