Italian crisis talks as PM quits

ROME – Italy’s president holds crisis talks with political leaders yesterday to see if Romano Prodi, who resigned as prime minister after nine months in power, can still head a government or must be replaced.

Prodi, who won the narrowest election in Italy’s post-war history last year, quit on Wednesday after he was defeated in the Senate on foreign policy – a constant source of friction in his nine-party, Catholics-to-communists coalition. “Comrades, all go home,” crowed the headline in right-wing daily Il Giornale run by the brother of Silvio Berlusconi, the tycoon former prime minister who hopes to return to power if new elections are held.Under the constitution, President Giorgio Napolitano now must find a way out of the impasse.He will spend Thursday in consultations with party and parliamentary leaders – a process one newspaper called a “Russian roulette” for Prodi, as the unpredictable result will determine his political future.There are three main scenarios.If Napolitano finds enough support for Prodi among centre-left parties, he could ask him to either form a new government or go to parliament with his present cabinet for a confidence vote; a victory would allow him to remain in office.If support for Prodi is not strong enough for him to carry on as prime minister, Napolitano could ask someone else, possibly Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, to form a caretaker government of experts with cross-party backing.If no agreement is found on who should be prime minister, Napolitano would be forced to dissolve parliament and call early elections, even though this option appears unlikely for now.Analysts said any Prodi government would be extremely weak and vulnerable to bitter infighting among its allies, who disagree on just about everything from Italy’s military missions abroad to gay rights.Nampa-Reuters”Comrades, all go home,” crowed the headline in right-wing daily Il Giornale run by the brother of Silvio Berlusconi, the tycoon former prime minister who hopes to return to power if new elections are held.Under the constitution, President Giorgio Napolitano now must find a way out of the impasse.He will spend Thursday in consultations with party and parliamentary leaders – a process one newspaper called a “Russian roulette” for Prodi, as the unpredictable result will determine his political future.There are three main scenarios.If Napolitano finds enough support for Prodi among centre-left parties, he could ask him to either form a new government or go to parliament with his present cabinet for a confidence vote; a victory would allow him to remain in office.If support for Prodi is not strong enough for him to carry on as prime minister, Napolitano could ask someone else, possibly Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, to form a caretaker government of experts with cross-party backing.If no agreement is found on who should be prime minister, Napolitano would be forced to dissolve parliament and call early elections, even though this option appears unlikely for now.Analysts said any Prodi government would be extremely weak and vulnerable to bitter infighting among its allies, who disagree on just about everything from Italy’s military missions abroad to gay rights.Nampa-Reuters