Resignations Threaten Italian Coalition By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO and GAIA PIANIGIANI Published: September 28, 2013 ROME — Italy confronted a new political crisis on Saturday as the ministers in former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right party resigned from the fragile coalition government, setting up a showdown that could shake the current political stability in Europe. The resignations did not immediately topple the government, but could lead to either a confidence vote in Italy’s Parliament as early as next week or could force Italy’s president, Giorgio Napolitano, to try to piece together a new coalition. Early elections could also be possible, though Mr. Napolitano has said repeatedly that is not an option he favors amid a prolonged economic recession, with economic and electoral reforms pending in Parliament. Prime Minister Enrico Letta is expected to meet with Mr. Napolitano on Sunday to discuss how to move forward. Tensions have been especially high in the Italian government — an unusual coalition of normally antagonistic political forces —since Mr. Berlusconi lost a final appeal last month in a tax fraud case. He is supposed to begin serving a one-year prison sentence, most likely in house arrest, in mid-October. On Friday, a Senate committee is to vote on whether Mr. Berlusconi will retain his seat in the upper house of Parliament, and Mr. Berlusconi has called on his supporters to gather in Rome that day to show their support. Last Wednesday, the fragile coalition government was severely strained when the members of Mr. Berlusconi’s party said they would all quit if the Senate committee voted to expel their leader. In a note posted on his Facebook page on Saturday, Mr. Berlusconi announced that the ministers in his party would step down to protest a 1 percent increase in the value added tax, set to go into effect on Tuesday. He accused the prime minister of “freezing government activities” and failing to take measures to defer the increase, thereby “violating commitments we took with our voters during the electoral campaign.” Mr. Letta retorted in a statement that Mr. Berlusconi’s act had been “mad and irresponsible, and solely finalized to cover his personal travails.” He said his government had been thrown into chaos by Wednesday’s decision by the center-right to resign. “De facto, we are in a government crisis,” a government spokesman said. “The meeting with President Napolitano will be decisive.”
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 05:30:57 +0000
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