THE END IS NEAR FOR BERLUSCONI’S POLITICAL ERA

ROME, Italy – Berlusconi has scheduled a cabinet meeting for Saturday evening and it could be his last. He said he would step down once the austerity measures become law after losing his parliamentary majority in a budget vote last Tuesday.

The Italian parliament is debating a package of austerity measures demanded by the European Union, and its passage is expected to be followed by an announcement that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will tender his resignation. The same belt-tightening plan was passed Friday by the country's senate with little opposition.

• "If all this goes to plan, and of course it doesn't always go to plan with European politics, the next stage will be to form a new government. It will be a technocrat government with Mario Monti (right photo) taking charge — that's who's tipped to take charge anyway," CBC freelance contributor Dominic Valitis reported..
• There a very sharp contrast between Monti and Berlusconi. The latter has been at the heart of Italian politics for the last 17 years, but more recently he has been ridiculed and embroiled in legal action for hosting parties at which magistrates say he entertained starlets and prostitutes. Monte is a former economics professor and on Wednesday Italian President Giorgio Napolitano named him a senator for life.
• "They are very different people indeed. Monti is a former European Union commissioner with some pretty heavy connections within the EU. He is a tough negotiator. He's not afraid of a fight. He's been known to take on big corporations," Valitis reported.
• Italy is under intense pressure to quickly put in place a new and effective government to replace Berlusconi, one that can push through tough reforms to reduce Italy's staggering sovereign debt, pegged at €1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion).

The economic reforms include increasing the retirement age from 65 to 67, starting in 2026, but do nothing to open up Italy's inflexible labour market. The measures also call for the privatization of some municipal services as well as the sale of state-owned real estate.
Italy's public debt totals twice that facing Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. An Italian default could tear apart the coalition of 17 countries that use the euro as a common currency and deal a strong blow to the economies of industrialized countries struggling to avoid recessions.

Source: CBC