Romano Prodi resigns as Italy's prime minister
Pastor Dale Morgan
Romano Prodi resigns as Italy's prime minister*
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 3:38am GMT 25/01/2008
Romano Prodi has resigned as Italy's prime minister, leaving the path
open for Silvio Berlusconi to return to power.
Mr Prodi was forced out, after just 20 months in power, when he lost a
vote of confidence in the Senate. It was the 34th vote of confidence he
had faced since becoming prime minister. Right-wing senators popped
bottles of champagne in the chamber to celebrate.
The collapse of the government had been widely predicted following a
stream of defections from Mr Prodi's 13-party coalition. After the vote,
Mr Prodi handed his resignation to Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano.
Mr Napolitano accepted it, but asked him to nominally remain in his
position until a decision is made on whether or not to hold a general
election. The president will meet various political leaders on Friday to
come to a resolution.
Mr Berlusconi, the 70-year-old media mogul, demanded an immediate vote.
"To the ballot boxes, to the ballots!" he exclaimed. "The country needs
a government that works. The Prodi government has imploded. I predicted
it. We will have a great majority and we will be capable of running the
country," he told supporters.
Opinion polls showed that Mr Berlusconi's popularity has soared as the
public tired of Mr Prodi, who was hamstrung by not having enough support
in the Senate to pass key reforms.
Mr Berlusconi said that his recently-renamed Freedom Party has 40 per
cent approval. Added to the votes of his Right-wing allies, it would
give him a strong majority in both houses of parliament. Although Mr
Berlusconi is not liked by either of his closest allies, they are likely
to support him in order to return to power.
Earlier Mr Berlusconi and Gianfranco Fini, the head of the neo-fascist
National Alliance, held one-and-a-half hours of talks. Mr Prodi's term
of office was not a success. Even Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, his economy
minister, described it as "a moderate government doing a moderate job".
Italy remains much as it was two years ago, riddled with corruption and
crime and economic stagnation. Unemployment in the south of the country
is as high as 40 per cent in some towns.
Mr Prodi tried to resign last February, but was asked to form a new
government and narrowly managed to win a vote of confidence.
This time, his fate was sealed when the departure of Clemente Mastella's
Christian Democrat UDEUR party from the coalition was followed by three
Liberal senators, led by Lamberto Dini, a former prime minister. Mr
Prodi called Mr Mastella a "shameful opportunist".
Right-wing senators pop bottles of champagne in the chamber to celebrate
Mr Prodi's resignation
In a day of high tension, Mr Prodi was attacked at lunchtime by a man
holding a plastic bottle as he walked from the presidential palace to
the Senate. Mr Napolitano can now either call elections instantly or he
can appoint a caretaker government to reform Italy's arcane electoral
system in preparation for a vote.
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, who was Mr Prodi's environment minister, said
that an April poll was "likely".
The main candidate for the Left-wing bloc is likely to be Walter
Veltroni, the current mayor of Rome. Mr Veltroni said last night that
Italy "owes a debt of recognition" to Mr Prodi.