Napolitano: no uncertainty about Berlusconi’s resigning

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s pledge to resign failed to quell a growing investor panic Wednesday, November 9, over indebted Italy’s ability to pass austerity measures and pay its bills, sending the nation’s borrowing rate soaring to levels that could force the world’s eighth-largest economy to seek international help.

The negativity spread to global markets, as Italian borrowing rates surged above 7 percent and stock markets in Milan, Paris, Frankfurt and New York dropped markedly.

Investors appeared to be weighing several immediate factors, notably the prospect that Berlusconi’s departure - contingent on parliament passing austerity measures - could drag on for weeks. But even after Berlusconi goes, Italy will still need to come to grips with a $2.6 trillion pile of debt and a moribund economy that has wallowed for years in low or negative growth.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday named Mario Monti, a former appointee to the European Commission, as a senator for life. The moved fueled speculation that politicians would rally around the noted statesman as a possible head of a new unity government after Berlusconi leaves office.

It was a testament to Berlusconi’s declining credibility that some in the opposition, as well as more than a few investors, were not immediately taking the prime minister’s word that he would resign. But Napolitano, Italy’s ceremonial head of state, reiterated Wednesday that there is no going back for the prime minister.

“There is no uncertainty about Berlusconi’s resigning,” Napolitano said.

In an interview with La Stampa newspaper published Wednesday, Berlusconi additionally vowed not to run again in the nation’s next elections. “I won’t run for office,” he said, adding that the decision made him feel “liberated” and that he might go back to running his soccer club, AC Milan, The Washington Times reported.