The centre right will not be able to
win Italy's next general without Silvio Berlusconi's Forza
Italia (FI), party coordinator told an ANSA Forum on Friday.
At the moment FI is third out of the three major centre-right
parties in the opinion polls, with the support of around 8% of
voters, behind Matteo Salvini's League with around 16% and the
right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) group, which currently tops
the polls with over 22%.
FdI, which is led by Giorgia Meloni, is the only major Italian
political party not supporting Premier Mario Draghi's broad
coalition government of national unity.
"Before we start thinking about who will be premier (of the next
government), it is necessary to think about how to get the
centre right to win the election," former European Parliament
President Tajani said.
"You don't win without FI.
"No more space in the centre should be left free. This is a
guarantee for the centre right and the whole country".
Tajani also defended the decision to support the Draghi
executive, saying that if it were not on board, important
measures, such as these week's agreement on the liberalization
of Italian beach establishments, would not have been possible.
Draghi's government came to power after ex-premier Giuseppe
Conte's second executive collapsed early in 2021.
"Berlusconi and FI made a clear decision at a time in which we
were in the middle of a pandemic," Tajani said.
"We said let's put the interests of the country before those of
our party.
"The voters understood, so much so that support for FI has grown
steadily.
"The Italian people appreciated our action in government.
"We would have liked FdI to have participated too, precisely
because they say they are patriots".
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