(By Paul Virgo).
Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday that his government was "hanging in" and remained committed to its ambitious reform programme, while warning the political class against "self-indulgent" debates.
He returned to the subject of his programme on Friday, a day after stressing that he does not need Silvio Berlusconi's opposition centre-right Forza Italia to pass a key part of it - an overhaul of Italy's slow, costly political machinery.
"Italy wants a future, not the quagmire of recent years," Renzi said on his Facebook page after visiting his centre-left Democratic Party's Festa dell'Unità summer festival in Castelgrande, near Reggio Emilia. "The phrase repeated yesterday by lots of mums and dads, pointing at their children, was 'hang in, hang in, their future is at stake' "Naturally we are hanging in. This country deserves enthusiasm and courage, not self-indulgent debates".
The government's bill to change the Constitution and revamp the country's political apparatus is set to return to centre stage when parliament resumes work after its summer recess.
A minority of lawmakers Renzi's own PD are hostile to the reform, which includes transforming the Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with limited powers to save money and make passing legislation easier.
There has been speculation Renzi could strike a new deal with Berlusconi to get the bill through its second reading in the Senate, where the government has a slender majority, to avert the threat of the reform being scuppered with the help of PD rebels.
The Constitutional reform and a law passed earlier this year for a new electoral system were the result of the so-called Nazareno Pact which Renzi and three-time premier Berlusconi agreed last year.
Berlusconi, however, declared the pact dead early this year when Renzi had President Sergio Mattarella elected head of State against the FI leader's wishes.
Earlier, Renzi had stressed that he was not counting on FI's support.
"The reform will go through," Renzi said Thursday.
"We'll see if we can involve as many parties as possible.
"Forza Italia voted for this reform in its first reading in the Senate under (whip Paolo) Romani. "Then (FI Lower House whip Renato) Brunetta arrived and they changed their mind.
"If they are in favour, fine, otherwise we'll pull it off without them".
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