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Silvio Berlusconi Has Resigned
And so an era ends.
BBC reports: Silvio Berlusconi has tendered his resignation as Italian prime minister.
President Giorgio Napolitano is likely to accept his offer and appoint Mario Monti, a technocrat, as his successor.
Mr Berlusconi lost his majority amid an acute debt crisis that threatens the eurozone. He promised to go once MPs had approved new austerity mesasures.
He is Italy's longest-serving post-WWII PM - having dominated political life for 17 years. His premiership has recently been marred by many scandals.
Crowds gathered outside the parliament, shouting "Resign" and "Bye bye Silvio". Later, groups outside the president's and prime minister's offices shouted abuse, calling Mr Berlusconi a "buffoon".
The outgoing prime minister said he felt "embittered" after hearing the insults.
After losing his parliamentary majority on Tuesday, Berlusconi promised to resign after austerity measures, demanded by the EU and designed to restore markets' confidence in the country's economy, were passed by both houses of parliament.
Members of the lower house voted 380-26 with two abstentions on Saturday, a day after the Senate approved the measures that have now been signed into law.
After accepting Mr Berlusconi's resignation, Mr Napolitano is expected to formally ask Mr Monti or another candidate to form a government of technocrats.
...
Once Berlusconi steps down, former European Commissioner Mario Monti is expected to be given the task of trying to form an administration to manage an escalating financial crisis. Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, came close to disaster this week when yields on 10-year bonds soared over 7.6 percent, the kind of level which forced Ireland, Portugal and Greece to seek an international bailout. Berlusconi, who failed to secure a majority in a vote on Tuesday, promised to resign once parliament passed the package of economic reforms demanded by European partners to restore confidence in Italy's battered public finances. "We are waiting for the end, we are waiting for the end of the Berlusconi era, we hope it is going to be the end," said Rome resident Angela Lanza. Monti, named by Napolitano as a Senator for Life on Wednesday, is expected to appoint a relatively small cabinet of technocrat specialists to steer Italy through the crisis. With the next election not due until 2013, a technocrat government could have about 18 months to pass painful economic reforms but will need to secure the backing of a majority in parliament and could fall before then. BBC reminds that it will not be smooth sailing for Monti:
Mr Monti, a well respected economist, is exactly the sort of man that the money markets would like to see take charge at this time of crisis, our correspondent says, but there is significant opposition to him within the country.
The austerity package foresees 59.8bn euros in savings from a mixture of spending cuts and tax rises, with the aim of balancing the budget by 2014. Measures include:
- An increase in VAT, from 20% to 21%
- A freeze on public-sector salaries until 2014
- The retirement age for women in the private sector will gradually rise, from 60 in 2014 until it reaches 65 in 2026, the same age as for men
- Measures to fight tax evasion will be strengthened, including a limit of 2,500 euros on cash transactions
- There will be a special tax on the energy sector
On Wednesday, the interest rate on 10-year Italian government bonds touched 7%, the rate at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to seek bailouts from the EU.
Indeed, Italy not known for any easy political consensus, will likely make a transition government difficult:
Even as preparations for a transition begin, signs of opposition have appeared, with Berlusconi's PDL party split between factions ready to accept a Monti government and others deeply opposed. Berlusconi had a working lunch with Monti before the vote, suggesting the outgoing government will not try to block a quick handover, but the attitude of the center-right as a whole remains unclear. The PDL's main coalition ally, the regional pro-devolution Northern League, has declared it will go into opposition, underlining the risk that the new government will lack the broad parliamentary support it will need to pass deep reforms. "The convulsions in the center-right at the prospect of a government led by Mario Monti signal a danger: that a divided coalition may be tempted to unload its divisions on the country," the daily Corriere della Sera said. The center-left Democratic party and smaller centrist parties have pledged support to Monti. Italy's main business and banking associations and some of the moderate trade unions have also called for a government of national unity.
Nonetheless, as Reuters with shows with the immediate reaction from Rome, people seem happy... if even for a few hours.
Crowds gathered at government buildings on Saturday celebrating the imminent departure of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after parliament cleared the way for his resignation by approving a budget aimed at rescuing Italy from financial crisis. Hundreds of demonstrators waving banners mocking Berlusconi flocked to the president's residence at the Quirinale Palace and shouted "clown, clown, clown" as the motorcade carrying the billionaire media entrepreneur who has been Italy's longest serving prime minister entered. Berlusconi arrived at the palace, which was under heavy security, to formally hand his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano and bring an end to one of the most scandal-plagued periods in recent Italian history. An orchestra near the palace played the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah. "We are here to rejoice," one of the musicians said. Demonstrators chanting "resign, resign, resign" also gathered outside the prime minister's office and parliament, heckling ministers as they walked between the two buildings.
Follow the developments in real time at the Corriere site:
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This is the point of this whole exercise that is being glossed over --
Is it just me that has a big problem with this? 2500 euros might seem like a lot of money now....
Cash limits and bank holidays. Good catch saulysw
Coming to a theatre near you.
hm...
i guess nwo agenda is on fast track
isn't it troubling
such a large frequency of head of state changes from North Africa (through slaughter), South Europe (through "vigilantes" and "market forces") in such a short amount of time...
hm...
What's that saying about deck chairs on the Titanic? And, doesn't Italy normally do a load of political wash every other year anyway?
"Cambiare tutto affinchè non cambi niente"
From movie "IL GATTOPARDO".
Addio child catcher
Too bad, so sad. Silvio was pure entertainment, unless of course you lived in Italy...or the Eurozone....or the EU. Who's going to take his place for pure comedic value?
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Goodbye to the Greatest European in the EU's history (which is not saying much)
Berlusconis single act of genius, amongst so much retards red tpe and red ink, was to select a bevy of hot totti as his EU representatives. Truly inspired compared the insipid socialist tossers that populate this rotten institution (bubbly Italian bimbos couldn't have lower IQ's than bug ugly lefties)
Ok Berlusconi was a vacuous egotistical twat and corrupt (ditto all politcos in history) but at least he added some colour amongst the fuking grey tedium of Brussels
Ciao Silvio... take the time off to get some hair implants before you lose it all
This changes nothing. America and the rest of the world...It's still crunch time!...NO JOBS, MORE FORECLOSURE and HIGHER PRICES!
MORE ROPE!...Patience is a virtue.
Mario(nette) Monti.
This will destroy those MorganStanley EURUSD shorts at 1.3750.
The appointment of Mario Monti of is a defensive move. The only way the bankers can proceed with their plan is to have an insider who will do as he is told. It’s inbreeding and a sign of weakness. They don’t dare let anyone else see the books.
Poor Buffoons got insulted.
Change the Italians can Believe in!
Worked well for the US of A.
Well, now he has a lot more time for Bunga-Bunga parties.
You can't fire me, I quit!
21% VAT?!? Holy fucking shit!! Somebody yank Herman off the stage, drop some knowledge on him & boot him into the back of the short bus back to LobbyistVille please.
-pouring some cheap Annisette- Arrivederci Sylvio
Good part, more time for Bitchez!
he now has more time to dedicate himself to ac milan. bunga bunga moves to san siro.
Berlusconi has resigned, but do your eally think he is retiting to some olive grove in tuscany ? this guy is the richest man in Italy and hundreds of pliticians are beholden to his mafia like regime....he is already pulling thy strings behind the scene
In a potentially ominous sign of the dangers that may face a Monti government, Italian news agencies reported that Berlusconi had told party colleagues that they would control the future of a new administration.
"We can pull the plug whenever we want," he was quoted as telling party allies.
Sounds like the EU performed it's second coupe d' tant in within a week. The only problem is that they own the problem now. Yes, the Eurocrats now "don't have Silvio to kick around anymore". But at least the Euro sheeple will see who the source of their problems are.
BTW, if the French debt goes to 6.5%, does that mean there will be a coupe in Frdddce? :)
7% on the 10yr by Thursday...as "Monti" can't pass sh*t as his budget cuts are blocked.
Bunga Bunga !
Jews don't control GS or JPM or FED, or even Hollywood and nbc and most TV production co's..news mags and not ONE JEW is on the NYT payroll..
such idiots to think there is anything going on here related to JEWS, why Madoff was forced to confess he was really a Catholic Bishop!!
look we can think can't we ..open your eyes just because someone is a racist does not mean that all that is said is wrong..In fact much of what is written about JEWS and Black Americans is fact.. it is just not to be said in a world controlled by the MSM and elite banksters. In the Brave NEW WORLD speech is thought control! Control speech and you control history.
Open your good eye and look at facts not the mind program you have been fed all your life by these non human sociopaths. If you cannot handle the facts that are plainly true how can you judge anything?
a one eyed man in the land of the blind.
Do Italian ex-prime ministers also get a pass on sexual abuse of children or will he have to become a priest now?