Italian PM’s political future at stake
Political future of Italian future is at stake due to uncertain situation in the country.
ROME - The Italian parliament prepared Friday for a key budget vote which will trigger the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Monti, who is expected to reveal this weekend whether he will run in the upcoming election.
The lower house was set to vote around 1800 GMT, following which Monti has said he will resign, kicking off a campaign that will likely see Italy go to the polls on February 24.
Sources close to the technocrat premier insist he has not yet decided whether to enter the political fray, despite appearing to launch a bid for a weighty role in the campaign with a rousing speech at a Fiat factory on Thursday.
"Those closest to him say he has not yet decided and do not rule out a surprise decision," the Corriere della sera daily said, adding: "Slowly, as the hours pass, the largest parties which supported Monti begin to see him as a potential adversary."
Some political observers have tipped Monti as planning to take part in the campaign as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition that has been likened to the Christian-Democrats who dominated Italy for decades.
While Monti s name cannot be on the ballot as he is already a senator for life, he can still be appointed to a post in government including prime minister or finance minister.
The centrist agenda will include "historic reforms" and "far deeper liberalisation than we have witnessed so far", according to sources cited by the Corriere as having met with Monti in recent days.
Monti, 69, sparred with media magnate Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday over the need for austerity, defending the "bitter medicine" of the budget discipline he has implemented and warning against any attempt to turn back the clock.
In an apparent reference to recent comments from Berlusconi, who has promised to put an end to austerity, Monti told workers at the Fiat factory that it would be "irresponsible to waste all the sacrifices that Italians made."
Stefano Folli, columnist for Il Sole 24 Ore financial newspaper, said that "Monti s strength lies in his ability to address Italians with a direct language," but La Stampa described it as a "strange electoral bid" and thought the premier was unlikely to run.
"It was the prelude, on Monti s part, to a rethink of the decision to candidate himself," the daily said, though the leader so favoured by European leaders and financial markets intends to "intervene often, even daily, on the themes of the campaign."
That will not be enough, according to Folli, to raise the centrists from the 12 percent of potential votes they would win according to recent polls to be able to beat Berlusconi s People of Freedom (PDL) party.
While supporters applaud Monti for having launched a far-reaching programme of austerity and reforms that has reassured the financial markets, his popularity has been hit among ordinary Italians as the debt-laden country grapples with record-high unemployment and a recession-hit economy.
Monti, installed at the head of a technocratic government in November 2011 after Berlusconi was forced to step down amid a financial crisis and a slew of sex scandals, has fallen in favour from a peak of 62 percent shortly after he came to power down to 33 percent in a SWG poll earlier this month.
The current favourite in the opinion polls is centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who has promised to continue Monti s reforms adding "jobs and equity".
Billionaire Berlusconi, who has swung back and forth on whether to run for the top job a sixth time and recently said he supported the former technocrat, warned Monti against joining the campaign and condemned his economic policies.
The technocrat government "has bowed down in front of EU requests, particularly those of the German European Union of northern Europe, which only lead to recession," Berlusconi said Friday in an interview with Gr Parliament radio.
The 76-year-old party lover fought back against the support EU leaders, Italy s business lobby and the Roman Catholic Church have given to Monti, calling on the Church in particular to "remember everything we ve done for it."
The comment sparked disbelief in the corridors of the Vatican, according to sources cited by the Repubblica newspaper, considering the scandals surrounding Berlusconi, who was convicted of tax fraud this year and is a defendant in a trial for having sex with an underage prostitute.
