Rome – Premier Silvio Berlusconi, the longest-serving leader in postwar Italy, resigned today to make way for a center-left government led by Romano Prodi that must re-energize a moribund economy.
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi asked Berlusconi to remain on as caretaker prime minister during their 30-minute meeting at the Quirinale Palace.
“The president of the republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, has met this morning with Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has handed in the resignation of the Cabinet over which he presides,” the president’s office said in a statement.
Berlusconi, leader of the conservatives elected in 2001, had steadfastly refused to concede defeat since the nation’s April 9-10 elections.
Berlusconi, who earlier today presided over a brief Cabinet meeting during which he announced his intention to resign, made no comments to reporters as he left Ciampi’s office.
“Democracy goes on, sometimes slowly, but it does,” Prodi said in welcoming the move. “It is a very important step.” It was not clear if Ciampi would immediately give Prodi – whose center-left coalition scored a narrow election victory over Berlusconi and his conservative allies – the mandate to form a government.
But Ciampi, whose term expires May 18, had indicated he wants the next president to assume that duty.
“I hope the political vacuum doesn’t go on for too long,” Prodi said.
Prodi said he was still working on his Cabinet lineup, which already has provoked some grumbling in his coalition.
“My aim is to be ready, but I have no date to suggest to President Ciampi,” Prodi told reporters Monday.
“If he gives me the mandate soon, I have to have the (Cabinet) list in my pocket. If, instead, the mandate is given to me a few days later, I’ll keep it (in the pocket) a few more days.” Ciampi has stressed the need for Italy to quickly revive the country’s zero-growth economy. He said political tensions must ease if the nation is to work together on that goal.
Berlusconi had vowed to fight the election results through legal challenges. He also has pledged to lead fierce political opposition in the legislature.
“A cycle is over. These five years are over,” Berlusconi’s justice minister, Roberto Castelli, told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. “We will go on. We will be the opposition.”
