Italian government crisis meeting today
Premier Silvio Berlusconi was expected to meet Italy’s president today to discuss his government’s future after a key allied party bolted his centre-right coalition, plunging it into crisis.
The party, the Union of Christian Democrats, or UDC, is demanding that Berlusconi forms a fresh government with a new platform in response to the coalition’s crushing defeat in regional elections two weeks ago.
At the meeting with President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in Rome, Berlusconi was expected to submit the formal resignations of UDC leader and Deputy Premier Marco Follini, as well as the party’s three ministers and other top officials.
But the premier might also announce his own resignation, as the UDC is demanding. Officials did not immediately announce a time for the meeting.
According to Italy’s constitution, if a government resigns, the president can designate a candidate to form a new government or dissolve parliament and call early elections.
The outcome of today’s meeting with Ciampi appeared uncertain as Berlusconi has resisted resigning and immediately forming a new government, dismissing such a tactic as a remnant of Italy’s messy political past.
Berlusconi heads Italy’s longest serving post-war government and has said he wants to serve out his full five-year term, due to expire in 2006.
