Print

Mail

wiki links

Italy waits for center-left coalition

Italy awaited final confirmation of center-left leader Romano Prodi's narrow election victory as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's challenge of the outcome appeared to run out of steam.

Prodi brushed aside a last-ditch appeal on Saturday by Berlusconi for a short-term power-sharing government, made in a letter to the daily Corriere della Sera.

The 66-year-old Prodi dismissed the overture, instead demanding an apology from Berlusconi.

"After what he said about vote-rigging, he should ask for forgiveness," Prodi told reporters outside his home in Bologna.

He had said late on Friday: "It's time that we close this strange comedy and move forward."

Berlusconi had proposed that the rival coalitions forge a short-term agreement "to meet the country's immediate institutional, economic and international timetable."

But his battle to stay in power suffered a severe blow on Friday when it emerged that there were too few disputed votes to reverse the outcome of the election -- won with a desperately slim majority by Prodi's center-left coalition.

Italy's supreme court, the Corte di Cassazione, still has to rubber stamp the provisional result of the polls conducted last Sunday and Monday, but can only do so once the ongoing review of disputed votes is complete.

The 69-year-old Berlusconi has remained defiant but patience with his stance has been growing thin, even within his own coalition.

Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said Berlusconi's latest comments were "disconcerting," adding that the prime minister ran the risk of "tearing apart the coalition."

However, Christian Democrat political secretary Armando Dionisi said on Saturday that given the closeness of the vote -- just 25,000 votes -- it was "imprudent for anyone to claim victory or concede defeat until all legal checks are correctly and legitimately carried out."

Berlusconi said in the letter to Corriere that Italy faced "a stalemate, with a situation in which, at least based on the popular vote, there will be neither winners nor losers."

"Common sense shows that we need a moment of reflection in the interests of all," Berlusconi said, speaking to reporters late on Friday.

It was the closest Berlusconi has come to an admission of defeat, and his vague offer of a power-sharing deal to Prodi appeared to be a last gasp.

It came after Berlusconi's hopes of a victory at the ballot box appeared dashed after the interior ministry admitted miscounting the number of disputed ballots cast in the election, putting the number at 5,266 votes instead of an earlier provisional figure of 82,850.

Pending confirmation of his electoral victory, Prodi is planning to speed up the integration of a hardcore group of EU countries, he told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper yesterday.

Prodi said he wanted to inject new life into the 25-member bloc's proposed constitution and bind a select group of countries into a closer alliance, which could threaten to leave Britain on the sidelines.

Prodi spelled out what he described as his "more Europe" reforms, with Italy, Germany, France and Spain taking the lead.

"Whether or not we will be a driving force, time will tell but member states must realize that they cannot have an advanced monetary policy on the one hand, and an old-fashioned economic policy on the other. The two must be linked," he said.

Prodi also called for a re-start of discussions on the European constitution, with the new version put to the vote in a referendum at the same time as the 2009 EU parliament elections.

The constitution has been ratified by 14 member states so far, but hit a stumbling block when it was rejected last year by referendums in France and the Netherlands.

The Sunday Times noted that Prodi had Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the chosen European anthem, as his mobile telephone's ringtone.

also see story:
Italy's return to abortive governments and political paralysis

This story has been viewed 1483 times.