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Picture from more harmonious days: Meloni (right) and Berlusconi (middle) after the election victory in September
Photo: Yara Nardi / REUTERS
Even before the formation of a government in Italy officially begins, the dispute within the planned right-wing coalition will intensify.
Above all, there is simmering between the winner of the election and probably the next prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her previous ally, Silvio Berlusconi.
She cannot be blackmailed, said the chairwoman of the far-right Fratelli d'Italia party on Friday evening.
Berlusconi is demanding important departments for his Forza Italia party in the next cabinet – but Meloni has so far largely brushed him off.
Berlusconi triggered the scandal within the alliance of right-wing parties, which have an absolute majority in the two chambers of parliament, with a handwritten note.
The 86-year-old then noted that one could not get along with Meloni.
She exhibited "opinionated, haughty, arrogant, abusive" behavior.
On Friday, the media published photos of the note that had been taken in the Senate on Thursday.
When asked about this, Meloni grumbled: "It seems to me that there is still one item missing on Berlusconi's list: I can't be blackmailed." candidate Ignazio La Russa voted as head of the Senate.
Berlusconi speculated that the majority would then not be enough.
Surprisingly, however, opposition politicians also voted for La Russa and the controversial fascist nostalgic was promptly elected.
That was an embarrassment for the experienced Berlusconi.
A few days before President Sergio Mattarella expected to form a government, the right-wing coalition, which also includes the right-wing populist League, was "a powder keg," wrote the left-liberal daily La Repubblica.
Berlusconi's Forza Italia received less than a third of the Fratelli votes in the election.
dab/dpa