From today it gets serious. The consultations of political leaders with the Head of State kick off this morning to try to form a new government. The first to go up to the Colle will be the new presidents of the Chamber and Senate, Laura Boldrini (SEL) and Piero Grasso (Pd). In the afternoon it will be the turn of the less represented parties in Parliament, including Nichi Vendola's Left Ecology and Freedom and Mario Monti's Civic Choice. Tomorrow, however, it will be the turn of the big names: Movimento 5 Stelle, Pdl, Lega Nord and Pd. The last to speak with Giorgio Napolitano will be the leader of the Democrats, Pier Luigi Bersani, which will ask for the assignment with full mandate.
The Pd secretary aims to create an Executive that will be able to find the necessary votes for trust in the Senate by drawing on the pool of the grillini (who however continue to exclude the possibility of supporting any government made up of traditional parties) and perhaps also that of the Northern League (but Northern League has denied the rumors of side contacts with the Democrats for possible external support).
For its part, the PDL still supports the need for a government based on broad agreements with the Pd, but at the same time - through the mouth of Silvio Berlusconi - it threatens street revolt if the centre-left manages to hand over the Quirinale to its own man, and not a "moderate" (the procedure for electing the new President should begin on April 20).
So far the wishes of the parties. The president of the Republic, however, seems more concession-oriented a pre-assignment. If this were the case, Bersani would have to explore all possible alliances that would guarantee him an absolute majority even in Palazzo Madama (the one in the Chamber is already in the hands of the Democratic Party thanks to the huge majority bonus provided by the Porcellum) and then report to the Head of State, the which only then – having verified the effective stability of the new government – would entrust him with the full mandate.
The vote of confidence by the Chambers would therefore come as the final act of a long gestation process. In fact, the Head of State fears that a shorter process would expose Bersani to bankruptcy, at the same time ousting Monti from Palazzo Chigi, still occupied by the Professor for the ordinary administration.
If the attempt by the Pd leader fails, Napolitano would probably play the card purpose government. A short-term executive, with few set goals (electoral reform in particular), entrusted to a non-partisan personality. Category from which Mario Monti is now excluded.
