'We'll see you Thursday' M5S tells PD on Grillo's blog

'We expect clear answers' on reforms

(ANSA) - Rome, July 15 - Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement MPs on Tuesday replied to an invitation from the center-left Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi to a meeting to discuss Senate and electoral reforms next Thursday. "We'll see you Thursday at 2pm, our meeting will be streamed live over the Internet," they wrote on movement founder Beppe Grillo's blog. "We expect clear answers". "We must find a solution we can all agree on in order to strike a balance between representation and governability, guaranteeing the selection of a parliament that is capable of being competent and honest". The premier is currently trying to push through a bill turning the Upper house into a slimmer assembly with minimal lawmaking powers and another introducing a new electoral law to replace a dysfunctional system that was declared unconstitutional last year, and that contributed to the inconclusive outcome of the February 2013 national vote.

The reform bill was the result of an agreement Renzi reached in January with former premier Silvio Berlusconi a month before he unseated his predecessor, Enrico Letta, to become Italy's youngest premier at 39.

The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement has recently come to the reform table. "We hope we can speedily reach a positive conclusion, because the country has even more pressing problems" than reforming the Senate and the electoral law, the M5S wrote. These are restarting the economy and creating jobs in the face of rising poverty and unemployment, the movement said.