Meloni, Berlusconi have 'peace talks'

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 17 - Rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader and likely future premier Giorgia Meloni and centre-right Forza Italia (FI) leader and three-time ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi held peace talks in Rome on Monday after the coalition partners had a massive bust-up.
    Media billionaire Berlusconi described Meloni as "presumptuous, over-bearing, arrogant and offensive" last week in written notes photographed by the media after FI failed to back FdI bigwig Ignazio La Russa in the election that saw him become the Senate Speaker due to mounting friction over the composition of the new government.
    Meloni, who is set to become Italy's first woman premier after FdI spearheaded the right-wing coalition's victory in last month's general election, hit back by saying Berlusconi had forgotten to put "not susceptible to blackmail" on the list that was screenshot by la Repubblica daily.
    The tension caused by Meloni's vetoes on FI ministerial candidates including Berlusconi loyalist and pasionaria Licia Ronzulli as justice minister reached the point that there was even talk of FI going to consultations on the formation of the new government with President Sergio Mattarella alone, rather than as part of the right-wing coalition that also includes Matteo Salvini's rightwing League party.
    But Meloni and Berlusconi reportedly spoke on the telephone on Sunday and then met at FdI's Rome offices on Monday as they sought to patch things up.
    Milanese businessman turned politician Berlusconi, 86, arrived at the FdI's historic headquarters in via della Scrofa alone and was personally met by the 45-year-old plain-speaking Roman Meloni in the courtyard there.
    The two leaders have both dismissed talk of tensions between them over the cabinet list that Meloni is expected to present to President Mattarella later this month.
    On Sunday Meloni said the centre-left opposition should "come to terms" with the fact that the coalition she leads "will lift Italy back up". (ANSA).