Rome (AFP)

The Social Democrats of the PD have been "positive" after a first stage of discussions with the Movement 5 Stars (M5S, anti-system) whose goal is to form a new majority to govern Italy .

At the end of a two-hour meeting, one of the DP's negotiators, Graziano Delrio, spoke of "great convergence on social and environmental issues".

"This is really a good start", "a positive note", commented the head of the parliamentary group PD in the Chamber of Deputies, who said that discussions would also take place "in the coming hours" on the draft budget of Italy.

"We are at the heart of very delicate consultations and we are all working together to achieve a difficult goal: to give life to a government of change," commented the leader of the Democratic Party (PD) Nicola Zingaretti in a note.

M5S leader Luigi Di Maio, who leads negotiations for his party, has put 10 imperative points on the table for a possible government wedding.

"The first is the reduction of the number of parliamentarians," said Di Maio, before the negotiation meeting, saying he wanted to do without 345 parliamentarians out of about 950 in total.

The M5S did not immediately comment on the results of their first meeting with the PD.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella, referee of the Italian political crisis, announced Thursday night that they would see the political parties for consultations from Tuesday.

The PD and M5S have only a few days to find common ground.

"The schedule of meetings has not yet been published," said a spokesman for the presidency.

According to some media, Sergio Mattarella could wait until Wednesday to speak and eventually appoint a Prime Minister to lead a new majority PD-M5S.

M5S undersecretary, Manlio Di Stefano, totally ruled out a reconciliation with right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, saying the outgoing deputy prime minister "has betrayed and is unreliable".

The abrupt announcement on 8 August by Matteo Salvini of the "unilateral rupture" of his government alliance with M5S has plunged the country into a serious political crisis. On Tuesday Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte submitted his resignation to the Italian president.

© 2019 AFP