He had asked the center-right coalition for a "proof of loyalty".

No sooner said than done. After a summit at Villa Grande, the Roman residence of Silvio Berlusconi, all the leaders signed a note in which the former premier was asked to "dissolve the reserve held up to now in a favorable sense" and officially apply for the Quirinale, because "it is he is the right figure to hold the high office in this difficult situation with the authority and experience that the country deserves and that Italians expect ”.

"The center-right, which represents the relative majority in the assembly called to elect the new head of state, has the right and the duty to propose the candidacy at the highest level of the institutions. The leaders of the coalition have agreed that Silvio Berlusconi is the right figure to fill the high office in this difficult juncture with the authority and experience that the country deserves and that the Italians expect. They therefore ask him to dissolve in a favorable sense the reserve maintained up to now ", reads the note.

"The political forces of the center-right - he continues - will work to find the widest convergences in Parliament and also ask the presidents of the Chamber and Senate to take all initiatives aimed at guaranteeing the exercise of the constitutional right to vote for all 1009 great voters" .

"You tell me if it is sustainable, otherwise I give up. I do not give names or numbers. You tell me if your people will vote for me", the former prime minister would have said to the allies.

It is unlikely that an official candidacy will arrive, no one has ever been a candidate for the Quirinale, but next week the leader of Forza Italia will check the numbers in view of a possible race for the presidency of the Republic.

About fifty votes are missing, but the Cav will have to find many more as a physiological number of snipers in the center-right must consider it. He can fish in the mixed group and seek Renzi's support.

Between the Pd and M5S it may point to a few single great voters, but the reply of the leaders to the note of the center-right is eloquent.

"Silvio Berlusconi at the Presidency of the Republic is an inadmissible and unthinkable option for us. The center-right does not block Italy. Out here there is a country that suffers and awaits answers, we cannot play on the shoulders of families and businesses", he said. tweeted Giuseppe Conte.

The first "hot" reactions of the Nazarene are "disappointment for the merit and concern for the implications that this choice may have." Even Enrico Letta in a nutshell rejected the candidacy: "I repeat what I have always said, the candidate must be unitary and not divisive. He must not be a political leader, but an institutional figure ".

(Unioneonline / L)

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