POLITICS: Italian Prime Minister Resigns

One political party of Silvio Burlusconi's coalition government has withdrawn its 4 ministers from his government and now the largest of his allies threatens to do the same. For this reason, the Italian PM has been forced to resign in hopes of building a new coalition and reascending to power with a stronger government. If he can not, he will face a general election next year, which may not be winnable without the full support of his political allies. The conflict centers on the belief of two coalition partners, The Union of Christian Democrats, and the National Alliance, that wealthy Northern Italy is too heavily favored by the current government's policies. The challenge in correcting this is that the PM risks losing the support of a Northern coalition partner if he compromises too much. There will not be any change of leadership during this process, as President Ciampi has asked Burlusconi to serve as care-taker PM in the interim.



This could be the end of the line for the conservative government in Italy which supported America in the War on Terror. With the opposition having won 11 of 13 regions with 54% of the vote, the division between North and South could perhaps paralyze Burlusconi's government even if he does put together a new coalition. It would also be interesting to consider what role a German Pope could play in the most Catholic country in Europe. Could Italy now go the way of France and Germany?

I had a thought (a rare occurance indeed). To what extent might a new pope, especially a very conservative one like Benedict XVI, impact Italian politics?
I'm really not completely sure what the major social issues are in Italy (I wouldn't immediately assume they are as morally charged as those in America), but if such questions were major issues in Italy, what role might the policies of this new pope play in the success or failure of Burlusconi's attempt to re-organize his coalition government?

Keep in mind that his resignation allows Berlusconi to form a new cabinent and re-organize his governining coalition. By resigning, the President gets to appoint someone to form an new cabinet, and it will be Berlusconi. Its a peculiarity of Italian Politics, and apparently Berlusconi had wanted to avoid it, thinking it is part of 'the old politics'.

Berlusconi resigns? Wow! This is big. What´s going on? He was "cleared" of corruption charges just before Christmas.


Prosecutor Seeks 8-Year Jail Term For Berlusconi

The people have spoken. They don't really want Berlusconi.

I always thought he was a shady character.

Originally posted by Hellmutt
Berlusconi resigns? Wow! This is big. What´s going on? He was "cleared" of corruption charges just before Christmas.

I'd like to clarify that he's not trying to get out of office. He's trying to reorganize his administration and perhaps reaffirm his mandate by getting voted back in with a new coalition. So I wouldn't take it out of context, especially not to the extent that Aelita has (no offense).

The people haven't spoken yet, but if Burlusconi's manuevering here fails, they will speak next year. Right now, only politics has spoken.

Out of curiosity (and to fan the discussion) what's your beef with him Aelita?

In Italy the gov't changes every five minutes - always has, always will. People are so used to it it's untrue. Most don't even bother voting anymore - we'll now be going towards yet another 'temp-gov't' in which Berlusconi switches a couple of ministers from-here-to-there, and then new elections. Back to left? Might be. Won't work anyway, hasn't worked other times - new temp gov't, new switches - back to right...

And again, and again, and again. Same old - and the entire nation's economic backbone has long since gone down the drain, together with any faith in correct political stances by its institutors.