Massimiliano Di Giorgio & Steve Scherer -
President Sergio Mattarella sought reassurances from political leaders on Thursday that they would adhere to Italy’s Nato commitments as he resumed coalition talks against a backdrop of uncertainty over Syria.
A source in Mattarella’s office said the president was concerned about the growing Syrian crisis, with some parties openly challenging US threats to retaliate over a suspected gas attack blamed on President Bashar al Assad.
More than a month since an inconclusive election, the main parties appear far from a deal after a first round of consultations ended in deadlock last week.
While initial considerations focused on domestic policies, Syria has added a new layer of uncertainty, with the leading right-wing party, the League, appearing to side with Russia against the United States.
“There’s no doubt he (Mattarella) is worried,” a source in the president’s office said, adding he wanted guarantees from party chiefs that they backed Italy’s well-established Western military allegiances.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that missiles “will be coming” in response to a suspected gas attack on April 7.
On Thursday he tweeted that a US attack on Syria “Could be very soon or not so soon at all!”
Syria, Russia and Iran have denied using chemical weapons and League leader Matteo Salvini, an ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, took their side on Wednesday, denouncing reports of the chemical attack as “fake news” and dismissing any need for a military intervention.
“The American president cannot announce missiles on Twitter, as if they were fried chicken and french fries,” said Salvini, who has previously warmly endorsed Trump’s leadership.
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An alliance uniting Salvini, Berlusconi and other rightist parties won the most seats in the March 4 vote, but fell well short of an overall majority.
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which has also been sympathetic to Moscow in the past, emerged as the biggest single group in parliament and has said it would be happy to enter a coalition with the League.
Italy is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (Nato) and has traditionally been one of the United States’ staunchest allies in Europe. It hosts important Nato and US military bases that could be needed in the coming days.
Italy’s caretaker administration, led by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which was roundly defeated last month, has condemned the Syrian gas attack.
However, a government source said late on Wednesday that “Italy will not be directly involved” militarily in Syria.
In an apparent reference to the use of its bases, the source added that Italy would respect its obligations “to support the activities of allied forces to guarantee security and protection”.
La Repubblica newspaper reported on Thursday that Mattarella wanted to speed up the coalition talks to give Italy a fully fledged government as soon as possible to deal with Syria.
“You know that we cannot report what the president says, but it doesn’t take much imagination to know he’s worried about this escalation and how Italy’s political forces will respond,” Senator Juliane Unterberger, a member of a small minority party, told reporters after seeing the head of state on Thursday.
— Reuters
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