Italian gov't pledges to go ahead with reforms

The leadership of Italy's ruling Democratic Party (PD) said on Thursday a reported split between Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and three-time Premier Silvio Berlusconi will not stop the reform process.

Berlusconi, who leads Forza Italia (FI) opposition party in parliament, had struck a deal with Renzi on much-needed institutional reforms in early 2014, including a voting law intended to allow more solid majorities to govern Italy which is going through approval process.

But senior figures of Berlusconi's center-right party said the pact broke down after the election of Italy's new President Sergio Mattarella, who was sworn in earlier this week. Most FI lawmakers cast blank ballots in the voting, in protest at Renzi's move to promote Mattarella without first consulting them.

"There is no pact and there are no two contractors. There is (Renzi) who dictates solutions and changes every time, and (Berlusconi) who accepts," a FI influential member, Raffaele Fitto, was quoted as saying by Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper.

The PD leadership, however, hit back saying that the presidential election was not included in the pact and the breach between Renzi and Berlusconi will not impact the planned reforms.

"If the pact is over, it is better like this. The path of reform will be easier," PD deputy head Debora Serracchiani was quoted by il Giornale newspaper as saying. "Taking the government to 2018 (the natural end of legislature) without Berlusconi is much better for us," she added.

Echoing her words, Reforms Minister Maria Elena Boschi said the government was willing to go alone on the promised steps. "We have a broad majority in the Lower House ... we are going on, but if they change their minds we are here," she was quoted by ANSA news agency as saying.

Mattarella's election was considered as a strategic victory for Renzi, who managed to keep his PD cohesive amid mounting rifts both within FI and the ruling coalition junior partner New Center-Right led by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.

In the wake of his success, though struggling with the aftermath of the controversy over the new president's choice, Renzi has secured the future path of his government's reform agenda pledging to "turbo charge" the engine of Italy.

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