Italy centre left rejects Berlusconi 'blackmail'
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Italy's centre left will not accept any "blackmail" from its centre-right coalition partner, its leader said on Monday, after Silvio Berlusconi's party threatened to bring down the government if he is ejected from parliament.
Relations between Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party and Prime Minister Enrico Letta's Democratic Party (PD) are at breaking point ahead of a Senate vote due by October on whether to expel the media mogul over his tax fraud conviction.
Following a party summit over the weekend at Berlusconi's Milan villa, members of the PDL said his removal from parliament was "unthinkable" and openly threatened to bring down the government if their PD coalition partners vote to evict him.
"The PD rejects any blackmail or ultimatum from the PDL," PD secretary Guglielmo Epifani told the daily newspaper la Repubblica on Monday, reaffirming that his party would vote in favour of Berlusconi's removal from parliament.
Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/26/uk-italy-politics-idUKBRE97P08S20130826
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