ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s head of state dissolved parliament on Saturday and opened the way to a February election, with doubts growing over whether outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti will participate in what promises to be a bitter campaign.

Monti resigned on Friday a couple of months ahead of the end of his term of office, after his technocrat government lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s president gave a strong indication on Wednesday that next year’s election would be held in late February, as the country prepares to replace a technocrat government that has ruled for over a year.

President Giorgio Napolitano said he had “taken account” of a recommendation by the interior minister that the election be held on February 24 following two days of wrangling over a budget law that must be passed before parliament is dissolved.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s president warned on Wednesday against delaying next year’s elections after wrangling over the 2013 budget threatened to put of the dissolution of parliament, which had been expected this week.

The budget, which must be passed before new elections can be called, had been expected to pass by Friday but has been held up Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party demanded more time to consider the bill.

ROME (Reuters) – The next Italian government must cut taxes and shun German-inspired austerity policies which have dragged the country into recession, the main economics spokesman in Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right party said.

Renato Brunetta, an economics professor and former minister of public administration, said a center-right government should rely on steps such as structural reforms and privatizations to tackle Italy’s debt mountain.

ROME, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Italy’s main centre-left party,
leading polls for next year’s election, criticised calls for
Prime Minister Mario Monti to run for a second term, a move one
of the party’s leading figures said would be “morally
questionable”.

The Democratic Party (PD) has supported Monti’s technocrat
government in parliament. But, while it has pledged to continue
his fiscal discipline and wants him to stay on in some role
after the election, it says he should stay out of the campaign,
which polls suggest he would lose anyway.

ROME, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Italy’s main centre-left party,
leading polls for next year’s election, rebuffed calls for Prime
Minister Mario Monti to run for a second term, a move one of the
party’s leading figures said would be “morally questionable”.

The Democratic Party (PD) has supported Monti’s technocrat
government in parliament. But, while it has pledged to continue
his fiscal discipline and wants him to stay on in some role
after the election, it says he should stay out of the campaign,
which polls suggest he would lose anyway.

ROME (Reuters) – Silvio Berlusconi offered on Wednesday to stand back and make way for Mario Monti as Italy’s next leader if the outgoing technocrat premier agreed to run as the candidate for a center-right coalition.

At a book launch in Rome, Berlusconi issued a series of rambling and contradictory statements, although he confirmed he was currently still standing as the center-right candidate in the election.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warned against a slide into populism on Tuesday as Silvio Berlusconi attacked his technocrat government, accusing it of failed “Germano-centric” policies that had dragged Italy into recession.

With elections now expected in February, financial markets have reacted nervously to the return of Berlusconi to seek a fifth term as prime minister, just over a year after being forced from office at the height of the financial crisis.

ROME, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
said on Tuesday he wanted to influence political debate in
whatever role he fills after elections next year but he left his
future open following speculation he may remain in politics.

Financial markets have reacted nervously to the uncertain
political outlook facing Italy after the election and in
particular to the return of Silvio Berlusconi as the candidate
of the centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party.

ROME (Reuters) – European partners urged the next Italian government on Monday to stick to Prime Minister Mario Monti’s reform agenda, after his decision to resign early and Silvio Berlusconi’s return to frontline politics rattled financial markets.

Monti’s surprise weekend announcement that he would quit because Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) party had withdrawn its support for his technocrat government pushed up Italy’s borrowing costs and prompted a stock market sell-off.