1.
GV PAN & CU Flag EXTERIOR Quirinale Palace (2 shots)
0.10

2.
SV Berlinguer leaves room and speaks to newsmen
0.42


MV ZOOM INTO SCU Berlinguer speaking in Italian


3.
CU Place guard
0.43

4.
MV & CU Fanfani speaking in Italian (2 shots)
1.10

5.
GV PAN Fanfani leaves surrounded by newsmen
1.18



Initials BB/1630 EW/DW/BB/1646



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Delegations from two of Italy's major political parties -- the Communists and the Christian Democrats -- met with President Giovanni Leone in the Quirinale Palace in Rome on Monday (28 October) as the search for a new Italian government continued into its 25th day.

The Communist delegation was led by Enrico Berlinguer, Secretary-General of the Party, the second largest political grouping in the lower house of the Italian Parliament. After meeting the President, Signor Berlinguer made a short statement to newsmen on the progress of the talks.

Later, Senator Amintore Fanfani, head of the Christian Democrat delegation, also explained the latest political developments. Last Friday (25 October), Senator fanfani told President Leone that his 10 days of negotiations to form the country's 37th post-fascist Government had failed. He found it impossible to reconcile the differences between the Christian Democrats -- the largest party in the Italian Parliament -- and their prospective coalition partners...the Socialists, the Social Democrats and the Republicans.

President Leone now faces the problem of finding a new Prime Minister-Designate. Monday's round of talks, expected to continue into Tuesday, were an attempt to come up with a candidate with a chance of forming aa new administration. Most politicians agree that the best solution would be a return to the Centre-Left formula, which has dominated Italian governments for the last ten years.

Only the Social Democrats have expressed a desire for fresh elections to solve the current political crisis. The other parties believe that the political balance would be little affected by another election, and that to dissolve the Parliament would only create a political vacuum at a time when Italy faces the country';s gravest economic crisis since the Second World War.