Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Berlusconi vows to leave after reforms

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed he would resign today after implementing urgent economic reforms demanded by the European Union, and said Italy must then hold an election, in which he would not stand.

"We have to give Europe and the world an urgent, strong signal that we are taking things seriously," he told a morning television show by phone.

After failing to secure a majority in a vote in the lower house last night, Berlusconi said he would quit as soon as parliament passed budget reforms to help Italy stave off a debt crisis that is threatening the entire euro zone.

Berlusconi, who has been under pressure to resign for weeks as markets pummeled Italy, also said his decision to resign was "a gesture of responsibility" to the country.

But he said he was opposed to any form of transitional or national unity government – which the opposition and many on the markets favor –and that an early election was the only alternative.

In a separate interview with La Stampa newspaper, Berlusconi said he saw an election being held at the start of February and that PDL party secretary and former justice minister Angelino Alfano would be the center-right's candidate for prime minister.

"I will resign as soon as the (budget) law is passed, and, since I believe there is no other majority possible, I see elections being held at the beginning of February and I will not be a candidate in them," he told La Stampa newspaper.

Berlusconi's delayed resignation is highly unusual in Italy and several leftwing newspapers suggested he might be playing for time and would not eventually step down. But he gave a string of interviews today underlining that he would resign.

Commentators said the fact that President Giorgio Napolitano had announced the resignation plan in an official statement would make if extremely difficult for Berlusconi to renege. They suggested his priority now was to keep his center-right coalition in power.

Votes on the economic reforms in both houses of parliament are likely this month. Opposition leaders may try to bring them forward in order to end as soon as possible the flamboyant billionaire media tycoon's 17-year dominance of Italian politics.

Worries about the Berlusconi government's ability to implement reforms to boost Italy's sluggish growth and cut its huge debt have helped fuel a rise in Italy's borrowing costs to unsustainable levels, weighing on the euro and stock markets.