Mario Monti tipped to lead Italy after Silvio Berlusconi quits

ROME—Former European commissioner Mario Monti was tipped to be picked to form a new government on Sunday with the urgent task of battling a financial crisis, a day after Silvio Berlusconi’s resignation.

Former European commissioner Mario Monti. ROBERTO MONALDO, LAPRESSE/AP PHOTO

The 68-year-old economist was set to be nominated to lead a technocratic government after Italy’s president completed a marathon round of formal consultations with political leaders at which his name received wide support.

“We have agreed to the nomination of Professor Monti,” said Angelino Alfano, leader of the People of Freedom (PDL) party founded by Berlusconi.

Alfano — who was named by Berlusconi as his successor — said the precise composition of the new government would be decided “in the coming days”.

Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the main centre-left Democratic Party, said he had offered his backing to “an emergency, transition government.”

“The crisis is serious and we don’t have time,” he said.

Hundreds of Berlusconi supporters meanwhile rallied in front of Berlusconi’s residence in Rome, a day after the long-time prime minister quit to cheers and scenes of jubilation in the streets of the Italian capital.

Berlusconi, who said on Saturday he was “embittered” after shouts of “Buffoon!” that greeted his resignation, came out of his home and waved.

The flamboyant Berlusconi has said he will not run for public office again, although he has hinted he would still like to play a role in campaigning.

In his first comments since stepping down, Berlusconi wrote a letter to a small conservative party saying he wanted to work on a “path to government” and issuing scathing comments about the parliamentary revolt that toppled him.

Berlusconi, 75, said he was “proud of what we have managed to do in these three and a half years marked by an international crisis without precedents,” condemning the “petty blackmail and opportunism” of recent days in parliament.

“I share your spirit and I hope to resume together the path to government,” he told The Right party, which is not represented in parliament.

Berlusconi is a deputy for the People of Freedom party he founded, a status that could offer him some respite from several legal proceedings against him.

President Giorgio Napolitano meanwhile raced against time to have a new government in place by the time financial markets open on Monday, when Italy will face its first bond auction test since Berlusconi’s exit.

The resignation triggered an explosion of joy with people uncorking bottles of champagne and dancing in the streets but analysts warn Italy faces the daunting task of implementing painful austerity and long-delayed reforms.

Fears of a prolonged political and financial crisis in Italy have pushed up its borrowing costs to record levels, setting off alarm bells around Europe and there were few good wishes for Berlusconi from international leaders.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spoke to Berlusconi to thank him for a “great personal contribution” to bilateral ties after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he would miss the man he called “one of the last of the Mohicans.”

A scandal-tainted, larger-than-life billionaire in power for 10 of the past 17 years, Berlusconi looked visibly shocked as he quit power on a momentous night and said he was “deeply embittered” at the scenes of jubilation.

Italian newspapers bade goodbye to Berlusconi, hailing “the end of an era”.

The departure “marks the end of a carnival reign,” said Curzio Maltese, a columnist for the leftist La Repubblica daily. The anti-Berlusconi daily Il Fatto Quotidiano said it was “the end of a nightmare”.

But The Sunday Times in London warned that Italy’s handover of power was little more than “rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic” in an article entitled: “Ciao, Silvio, now for the hard work.”

In Vienna, the popular Kronen Zeitung daily rejoiced, saying: “The head of the bunga bunga government has been forced to leave” — a reference to allegedly raunchy parties hosted by the former prime minister.

International leaders including US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have pushed hard for Italy to move quickly now to form a new government and adopt economic reforms.

The European Union, which together with the International Monetary Fund is now auditing Italy’s accounts, has said the country may need to pass extra austerity measures in order to meet its economic targets.

Reports of Monti’s impending nomination have helped ease market jitters but the toxic mix of a 1.9 trillion euro ($2.6 trillion) debt, an extremely low growth rate and high bond rates has kept markets nervous.