Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was set to resign yesterday after a new budget law was to be approved in parliament, making way for an interim government and ending one of the most -scandal-plagued eras in Italy’s post-war history.
Once Berlusconi steps down, former European Commissioner Mario Monti was expected to be given the task of trying to form a new administration to manage a widening financial crisis that has put the future of Europe’s single currency at risk.
The lower house of parliament began debating a package of economic reforms intended to reverse a collapse of market confidence ahead of a vote yesterday afternoon.
The definitive approval of the package, which cleared the Senate on Friday and the lower house budget committee yesterday, was to mark the final act of the Berlusconi government.
Berlusconi was expected to hold a last Cabinet meeting before going to the Quirinale Palace and handing his resignation to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
His resignation will trigger a series of events this weekend and most likely conclude tonight or tomorrow morning with the formation of a new Monti government made up largely of non-political technocrats.
The new government will try to pass painful economic reforms to restore shattered market confidence after a period of turmoil that has sent the cost of managing Italy’s huge public debt spiraling almost out of control.
Monti met with new European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and leaders of the centre-left opposition yesterday morning before having a working lunch with Berlusconi.
Napolitano and Italian legislators have put the process on a fast track, prompting healthy reactions from the stock and bond markets, which have been thrown into turmoil by weeks of political uncertainty in the eurozone’s third-largest economy.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from