ITALY: Mario Monti resigns as Prime Pinister of Italy with speculation swirling over his next moves

Record ID: 839652

  • Title: ITALY: Mario Monti resigns as Prime Pinister of Italy with speculation swirling over his next moves
  • Date: 21st December 2012
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (DECEMBER 21, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GUARDS OUTSIDE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE CONVOY OF CARS CARRYING ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER MARIO MONTI ARRIVING AT THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE VARIOUS OF CARS ENTERING PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2QMTRWFQP01A7INHQHHQUZMKE
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  • Story Text: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday (December 21) after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February.
    Monti handed in his resignation during a brief meeting at the president's palace shortly after parliament approved his government's 2013 budget.

    "The President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano has received today at the presidential palace at 19:00 the prime minister, Senator Mario Monti, who, following the parliament's approval of the budget law, has tendered the resignation for the government that he presided over," the Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic of Italy, Donato Marra, announced after Monti arrived at the presidential palace in a convoy of cars.
    The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he has faced growing pressure to seek a second term.
    President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to dissolve parliament in the next few days and has already indicated that the most likely date for the election is Feb. 24.
    In an unexpected move, Napolitano said he would hold consultations with political leaders from all the main parties on Saturday (December 22) to discuss the next steps. In the meantime Monti will continue in a caretaker capacity.
    Outside the Italian parliament, Corrado Clini, who served as environment minister in Monti's government said more time would've been needed to allow the government to steer Italy in the right path of recovery.

    "If the legislature had reached its natural ending we would have been able to complete more of the necessary reforms needed for growth. However, we worked very hard and we have achieved many results," he said.
    European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have called for Monti's economic reform agenda to continue but Italy's two main parties have said he should stay out of the race.
    Monti will hold a news conference on Sunday (December 23) at which he is expected clarify his intentions.

    "Monti will certainly be an important player, I don't think he'll go back to the Bocconi University. At the same time I don't think he'll personally stand as a candidate in the elections, he may endorse a series of lists but I am not too concerned about it, I think this time the proposal of the centre-left would be stronger even if Monti decided to run," said parliamentarian Mario Adinolfi of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
    The Democratic Party has held a strong lead in the polls for months but a centrist alliance led by Monti could gain enough support in the Senate to force the PD to seek a coalition deal which could help shape the economic agenda.
    Another member of parliament, Adolfo Urso, said he hoped Italians would take to the polls in great numbers to elect the successors to Monti's technocrat government.

    "We hope, above all, that citizens will participate, meaning that we fear abstention which would be bad for Italian democracy," he said.
    Whether he runs or not, Monti's legacy will loom over an election which will be fought out over the painful measures he has introduced to try to rein in Italy's huge public debt and revive its stagnant economy.

    "I hope for a government capable to continue the work that has been so far and that the sacrifices Italian people have suffered won't be wasted," said parliamentarian Savino Pezzotta.
    Ordinary Italians, weary of repeated tax hikes and spending cuts are also sceptical and opinion polls show little sign that voters are ready to give Monti a second term, with a survey this week showing 61 percent saying he should not stand.

    "I would be really disappointed if Monti continues in politics, he should absolutely step aside. He served as a prime minister above the fray and for him to now take sides would be wrong," said Rome resident Velia Jacovino.

    "I hope there will be a continuation with some of the policies Monti initiated, however, also with some modifications because Monti's policies were valid for a certain period but then they would have needed to be developed in another direction (towards growth)," another Rome resident, Marzio Vitale, said.
    Monti's resignation came a couple of months before the end of his term of office, after his technocrat government lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in parliament earlier this month.
    Speculation is swirling over Monti's next moves. These could include outlining policy recommendations, endorsing a centrist alliance committed to his reform agenda or even standing as a candidate in the election himself.
    ENDS
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