The Italian president began talks with party leaders yesterday on a future government, a day after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned.
Berlusconi, his popularity sagging amid concerns about the economy and opposition to Italy's involvement in Iraq, stepped down on Wednesday, but said he was determined to regain the country's confidence with a new Cabinet.
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has two options -- to dissolve parliament and call early elections, or to designate a premier to assemble a new government. He is widely expected to tap Berlusconi to form a new Cabinet to serve until the end of the legislature in the middle of next year.
Resigning and then immediately shuffling the government is an old trick of Italy's complicated political system, and has been used by premiers to strengthen faltering coalitions.
Berlusconi, who was elected in 2001 and had been leading Italy's longest-serving postwar government, had resisted the move, sensing it would undermine his image as a new-style politician. On Wednesday, he suggested he would have preferred to stay.
"One can't always get what one wants," he said, acknowledging the end of his ambition to head Italy's first postwar government to serve an entire five-year term.
But the resignation, which he submitted to the president, is expected to enable Berlusconi to end weeks of infighting within his conservative coalition. His allies had demanded that he step down and revamp the Cabinet following an embarrassing defeat in April 3-4 regional elections.
Berlusconi is staying on as caretaker, and the Apcom news agency quoted him as saying that he expects the crisis to be over by the end of the week. He reportedly said he would not change many ministers, but did not give details.
The resignation was welcomed by his allies, who had demanded it after the electoral defeat.
"His speech was excellent," said Gianfranco Fini, who serves as deputy premier and foreign minister.
In Wednesday's address to the Senate, Berlusconi appeared to appease some requests from his allies when he said the new platform would focus on aiding Italy's underdeveloped south and financially pressed families.
The economy is high on the list of worries. Italy's economy grew by 1.2 percent last year compared with an average 2 percent in the 12-nation euro zone, raising pressure on the government to contain its ballooning deficit under EU rules.
The center-left opposition has been pressing for early elections, emboldened by polls suggesting they could win. In tune with most Italians, the opposition was against Berlusconi's decision to send 3,000 troops to Iraq.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS