Mr Monti, named by Mr Napolitano as a Senator for Life on Wednesday, is expected to appoint a relatively small cabinet of technocrat specialists to steer Italy through the crisis. With the next election not due until , a technocrat government could have about 18 months to pass painful economic reforms but will need to secure the backing of a majority in parliament and could fall before then.
With a public debt of more than per cent of gross domestic product and more than a decade of anaemic economic growth behind it, Italy is at the heart of the euro zone debt crisis and would be too big for the bloc to bail out. Financial markets have backed a Mr Monti government and as prospects of Mr Berlusconi going became firmer last week, yields dropped below the critical 7 per cent level, although they remain close. Mr Berlusconi, fighting an array of scandals and facing trials on charges ranging from tax fraud to paying for sex with an under-aged prostitute, had been under pressure to resign for weeks as the market crisis threatened to spin out of control.
International leaders including US president Barack Obama, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde have expressed hopes a new government can be in place quickly. Talks with Italian political parties are expected to begin tomorrow with hopes that a new government can be in place in time for the opening of financial markets on Monday. Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription. Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Italian prime minister Sat, Nov 12, , Most Viewed.
Watch More Videos. Coronavirus Explore our guides to help you through the pandemic. The leading UK employers' organisation, the CBI, warned that Europe's sovereign debt crisis was having a marked impact on Britain's growth prospects. The CBI called on the government to use this month's autumn statement to remove obstacles to growth, as the country's growth forecast for was cut from 1.
Meanwhile, the former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling said the situation facing Europe was far worse than the banking crisis of , and if it was not sorted out by Christmas the eurozone would break up. In Tuesday's vote to approve last year's public accounts, Berlusconi's rightwing coalition won the support of only of the members of the chamber. Looking uncharacteristically glum, the prime minister walked from the floor of the house on his way to a crisis meeting with senior members of his own party and the Northern League.
After it ended, he headed for the Quirinale palace, the residence of the head of state. He and Bossi will be hoping to persuade the president to call new elections in which Berlusconi could again play a role.
And Bossi suggested that, if the country did not go back to the polls, Berlusconi's protege, Angelino Alfano, could take over as prime minister in a new rightwing administration. Though the markets reacted with delight on Monday when it began to look like the government would fall, attention has since shifted to the prospect of a protracted election campaign, or lengthy negotiations to form a new coalition.
This article is more than 10 years old. Something needs to be done immediately. If the Parliament directly nominates a new cabinet, the two most likely options seem to be the formation of either a nonpartisan government headed by a technocrat — perhaps Mario Monti, an internationally respected economist — or a grand coalition headed by a key figure in Berlusconi's Freedom Party, such as his head of staff, Gianni Letta, or the party's secretary, Angelino Alfano.
A media tycoon, Berlusconi entered politics in the early 90s, filling the vacuum left by a series of huge corruption scandals that wiped out the two major political forces of the time, the Christian Democrats and the Socialists. In he founded his own party, Forza Italia or Go Italy , with a signature mix of pro-market and populist rhetoric. During his three terms as prime minister he moved Italy's foreign policy, which had traditionally been moderately pro-Arab, closer to the US by joining the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.
In he unified the conservative political spectrum into one single force, the Freedom Party, and is thus credited for having introduced bipolarism into Italy's fragmented politics. He is also credited for having introduced to Italy the American-inspired concept of leadership, having asserted himself as a strong leader de facto elected by the people, despite the fact that according to the Italian systems voters get to choose a party, not a head of government.
Now we'll see who will be Italy's next ruler. A head of cabinet or a prime minister? Already a subscriber? Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations. Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. You can renew your subscription or continue to use the site without a subscription.
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