ROME (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Romano Prodi withdrew from the race for the Italian presidency on Friday, deepening the chaos in the centre-left after party rebels helped his old enemy Silvio Berlusconi scupper his candidacy.

The collapse of efforts by the centre-left to secure the presidency for Prodi underlines the deep fractures running through politics in a country still seeking a government nearly two months after February’s inconclusive general election.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s main center-left party chose former Prime Minister Romano Prodi as its presidential candidate on Friday, setting up a battle with Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right that raises the chance of a snap election in the summer.

Berlusconi’s camp immediately rejected Prodi, one of the media billionaire’s oldest enemies, saying his election was likely to prevent any government being formed and lead to new polls, possibly as soon as late June or early July.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday ruled out standing down early to make way for new parliamentary elections, after the failure of attempts to form a government this week, saying he would keep trying to find a way out of the deadlock.

Napolitano, whose term ends on May 15, spoke after news reports suggested he might resign to get around constitutional provisions which prevent a president dissolving parliament and calling elections during his final months in office.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is considering resigning immediately to make way for new parliamentary elections after attempts to form a government failed this week, a person close to the situation said on Saturday.

“The idea is on the table along with many others,” said the person, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, adding that the president would probably make a statement later in the day.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s new parliament sat on Friday for the first time since an inconclusive general election produced a political stalemate that meant deputies and senators were unable even to elect speakers for either chamber.

The February election gave the centre left a majority in the lower house but not in the Senate, leaving it unable to form a government and raising the spectre of a return to the polls and the threat of renewed market turmoil.

ROME, March 15 (Reuters) – Italy’s new parliament met on
Friday for the first time since last month’s inconclusive
election with no sign of a deal to end the stalemate and yield a
government able to address the deep problems in the euro zone’s
third-largest economy.

The parties have so far failed to find a way out of the
impasse created by the election, which left the centre-left with
a majority in the lower house but without the numbers to control
the Senate and form a government.

ROME (Reuters) – The head of Italy’s main business association voiced optimism on Wednesday that political parties could resolve a post-election stalemate but said they must move quickly or financial markets would turn hostile.

Giorgio Squinzi, president of Confindustria, said the situation was “extremely serious” but he was confident the main parties had enough in common to prevent the crisis slipping out of control.

ROME, Feb 21 (Reuters) – A leading member of Italy’s
centre-left coalition, frontrunner in polls for this weekend’s
election, said on Thursday the country should seek revisions of
European Union budget rules.

“We have a duty to renegotiate the fiscal compact,” Nichi
Vendola, leader of the Left Ecology Freedom party (SEL), told a
briefing for foreign reporters. “Europe needs expansive economic
policies.”

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s centre-left moved on Tuesday to quash fears that it will form a weak government after next weekend’s election, saying it was committed to rapid economic reform and that outgoing premier Mario Monti must have a frontline political role.

“We are fully aware that inertia is not an option. We have no time to waste. Italy’s problems are very serious and we cannot afford more recession or stagnation … we need to deliver in terms of jobs, income, simplification,” said Stefano Fassina, chief economic official in the centre-left Democratic Party.

BRUSSELS/ROME (Reuters) – A difference in how European Union member states interpret figures looks set to provide negotiators with just enough wriggle room to strike a deal on the EU’s next long-term budget at a summit on Thursday.

Proposals from European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who will chair negotiations over the 2014-2020 spending plan, hinge on the fact that the budget is always expressed in two figures – payments and commitments.