Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday that the much of the old guard of Italian politics were supporting the No camp ahead of next month's referendum on his government's Constitutional reform because they hoped to come back to the fore. "The political class is exploiting the December 4 referendum to take back the power it lost," Renzi said as he signed the Pact for Cagliari in Sardinia. "They want to come back. If you want a system of treading water, shady deals and postponing dealing with problems, take them back.
We'll still be friends like before".
Renzi said the referendum on his Constitutional reform law is splitting the country between those who have a vision of what Italy could be and professional naysayers whose attitude has kept the nation at a standstill. "I am certain Italy can be restarted but one must have an idea of the country," he told a rally in support of a 'Yes' vote on the December 4 referendum in the Sardinian city of Sassari. "The great challenge of this referendum is that on one side you have some who have an idea of the country and on the other, people who came together just to say no - they are united by their desire to obstruct someone". The latter, said the young reformist premier, is "not politics". "By dint of saying no and obstructing, the country is at a standstill and the only political debate is between insiders," said 41-year-old Renzi.
The premier added that opposition to his reform has brought together a motley crew ranging from centrist technocrat ex-premier Mario Monti to hard-right, anti-migrant Northern League chief Matteo Salvini, center-right ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, crusading anti-establishment journalist and staunch Berlusconi critic Marco Travaglio, from former center-left minister Massimo D'Alema to populist euroskeptic leader Beppe Grillo. "Maybe Berlusconi and Travaglio have loved each other since childhood, but we knew that," Renzi quipped. "Even (neo-Fascist group) Casapound is worried about a drift towards authoritarian rule...".
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