By James Mackenzie
ROME (Reuters) - Italian centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani confirmed on Tuesday he would meet his centre-right rival Silvio Berlusconi soon, but held out little hope of a breakthrough in the political stalemate since February's inconclusive election.
According to parliamentary sources, the two leaders will meet later on Tuesday in parliament although both sides appear to be sticking to entrenched positions that have prevented any deal opening the way to forming a government.
Bersani, who won a majority in the lower house but fell short of the Senate majority which would have allowed him to govern, has so far refused Berlusconi's demands for a "grand coalition" between the two rival forces.
Earlier on Tuesday he said he would meet Berlusconi "some time in the next few days" to discuss the election of Italy's next president, a process due to begin on April 18.
However, he stuck to his rejection of Berlusconi's demands to form a coalition, saying the centre-right leader had shown during the technocrat government of Mario Monti that he could not be trusted.
"When I meet him, I will say, 'We haven't forgotten. We know you even if you try to disguise yourself'," he told state broadcaster RAI.
"We're trustworthy and we look for trustworthiness in others, if there are proposals, we'll see. Only they shouldn't come with proposals for a 'governissimo' because that's not possible. If they've got other ideas, we can talk about it."
The comment underlines how firm the deadlock between the two main formations in parliament remains more than 40 days after the election which left no party able to form a government.
Bersani has so far stuck to his hard line on Berlusconi despite increasing calls from senior figures in sections of his party for a dialogue with the centre-right to avoid a potentially destabilising return to the polls.
He wants to present a limited set of proposals to parliament and seek a wider accord among the parties for a broad series of institutional reforms, including changes to the widely criticised electoral law which led to the stalemate.
Berlusconi has demanded that the centre-right be allowed to choose the next head of state as the price of its support to a government led by the centre-left. He says the only alternative is new elections at the earliest date possible in June or July.
"COUP"
The other main force, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement led by ex-comic Beppe Grillo has refused any alliance with either of the big parties it blames for Italy's deep social and economic crisis.
"We don't trust the parties and we will never vote confidence in a government led by them," said Alessandro Di Battista, a 5-Star lawmaker in the lower house.
The group threatened to stage a sit-in protest in parliament on Tuesday evening after rival parties rejected its demand for committees to begin work so that they can consider law proposals even before the formation of a new government.
In a post on his popular blog, Grillo, who says parliament can function effectively and approve laws without the need for a government to be sworn in, accused the mainstream parties of staging a "coup" to undermine the legitimacy of parliament.
"Italy is not a parliamentary republic any more as the constitution says but a party republic. The parties have replaced democracy," he said.
The impasse is expected to complicate the election of the successor to President Giorgio Napolitano, whose term in office ends on May 15.
That vote will be vital because with his mandate about to expire, Napolitano no longer has the power to dissolve parliament and call new elections and it will be up to his successor to find a way out of the deadlock.
(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer and Roberto Landucci; Editing by Michael Roddy)
