ROME (Reuters) – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned yesterday, ending one of the most scandal-plagued eras in recent Italian history amid the jeers of thousands of protesters gathered in central Rome to celebrate his departure.
Berlusconi, who failed to secure a majority in a crucial vote on Tuesday, handed in his resignation after parliament passed a package of measures demanded by European partners to restore market confidence in Italy’s strained public finances.
President Giorgio Napolitano accepted Berlusconi’s resignation after a meeting in the presidential palace, his office said.
Former European Commissioner Mario Monti is expected to be given the task of trying to form a new administration to face a widening financial crisis which has sent Italy’s borrowing costs to unmanageable levels.
More than a thousand 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.
The crowd grew so unruly that Berlusconi was forced to leave secretly via a side entrance and return to his private residence.
Cheers broke out when they heard that Berlusconi had resigned and the square broke out into a party atmosphere. They sang, danced and some broke open bottles of champagne.
An orchestra near the palace played the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah. “We are here to rejoice,” one 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.
A small group of pro-Berlusconi demonstrators gathered outside his residence but were outnumbered by opponents.
“This is something that deeply saddens me,” the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Berlusconi as telling aides.
The presidential palace said Napolitano would begin consultations with political figures at 0800 GMT on Sunday morning. He was expected to formally ask Monti for form a government tonight.
Italy, the euro zone’s third largest economy, came close to disaster this week when yields on 10-year bonds soared over 7.6 per cent, 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.
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.
