Bersani Clings to Premiership Goal as Allies Predict Failure
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Pier Luigi Bersani will probably fail to win the consensus needed to form a government in Italy, some allies said yesterday after giving the Democratic Party head a mandate to negotiate parliamentary backing with rivals.
Bersani revamped his program to entice Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement into an alliance with the Democratic Party, or PD. He repudiated his previous commitment to budget rigor and added policy proposals reminiscent of Five Star’s. Still, success depends on smoothing over differences with Grillo, who called Bersani a “dead man talking” after the PD failed to win a parliamentary majority in Feb. 24-25 elections.