Baluarte
03-22-2013, 05:02 PM
By CHRISTOPHER EMSDEN And GIADA ZAMPANO
ROME—Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of Italy's Democratic Party, has been told by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to try to forge a government with viable parliamentary support, but the way the head of state gave him the task signalled how hard it will be to accomplish.
Enlarge Image
Zuma Press
Center-left Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani.
The presidential nod on Friday gives Mr. Bersani a few days to sound out lawmakers in his own party and in others to see if he can stitch together a cabinet able to win the 30 or so extra Senate votes he needs after his center-left party's unexpectedly narrow victory in last month's general elections.
Acquiring those will involve reaching across the aisle and cajoling support from the upstart Five-Star Movement, whose newly elected parliamentary leaders told the president they will never vote in support of any government led by a traditional parties. Mr. Bersani has been trying to do that for the past two weeks to no avail.
Mr. Bersani has been asked to report back to the president early next week.
"We're going through procedural pleasantries at the moment, as the president had to offer Bersani the opportunity of a few days to seek a majority" said Duncan McDonnell, a political analyst at the European University Institute near Florence. ""We know he will not be able to form a government."
The Democratic Party and its left-leaning allies emerged, narrowly, as the winner of last month's general elections, giving it an absolute majority of seats in Parliament but only 121 seats in the 315-member Senate.
Achieving a stable coalition deal is harder due to each rival's electoral interests. A new poll released Friday by the SWG institute found that Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition would overturn the election results and win if a new vote were scheduled today. Meanwhile, the poll said the Five-Star Movement would be the single largest party. That alone will make the Democratic Party reluctant to trust any ordinary coalition deal.
If Mr. Bersani doesn't have a convincing plan, the head of state will hold another round of consultations with other parties and probably appoint an outsider candidate to head a government, with a mandate to pursue a narrow policy menu—and try to change the detested electoral law—while the politicians prepare for elections in the autumn.
Mr. Bersani, Mr. Berlusconi and other senior lawmakers have emphasized the urgency of giving the euro-zone's third-largest economy a government that will take measures aimed at ending a prolonged recession, as well as participate in European debates that have intensified in the wake of the demands being made as part of a bailout package for Cyprus.
The rhetoric of urgency "is paving the way for a caretaker administration of some type," Mr. McDonnell said.
Political gridlock also raises the risk of a sovereign rating downgrade, which could trigger market pressure on Rome to request a bailout of its own, Citigroup warned in a note Friday.
Italy's economy is struggling even more than bleak headline data show, as job and business declines began to accelerate late last year, said Mariano Bella, chief economist at the Confcommercio retailers lobby.
"We can't ignore the public suffering," President Napolitano said. Parliament needs to reflect voters' concerns and begin deliberating legislation as soon as possible, he said, adding that many policy goals are widely shared.
Mr. Bersani may use the next days of talks to sound out the idea of a cabinet led by someone other than himself with a precise mandate lasting less than the five-year legislature. But he has to be careful about compromises he offers because the Democratic Party's own future is at stake, according to Piero Ignazi, a political scientist at the University of Bologna.
Mr. Bersani won a closely contested primary vote against Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi, a younger and more centrist rival who polls say would have fared better in the national vote.
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I sincerely hope Bersani does not manage to corrupt other parties...that guy is the worst candidate after Goldmonti...
ROME—Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of Italy's Democratic Party, has been told by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to try to forge a government with viable parliamentary support, but the way the head of state gave him the task signalled how hard it will be to accomplish.
Enlarge Image
Zuma Press
Center-left Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani.
The presidential nod on Friday gives Mr. Bersani a few days to sound out lawmakers in his own party and in others to see if he can stitch together a cabinet able to win the 30 or so extra Senate votes he needs after his center-left party's unexpectedly narrow victory in last month's general elections.
Acquiring those will involve reaching across the aisle and cajoling support from the upstart Five-Star Movement, whose newly elected parliamentary leaders told the president they will never vote in support of any government led by a traditional parties. Mr. Bersani has been trying to do that for the past two weeks to no avail.
Mr. Bersani has been asked to report back to the president early next week.
"We're going through procedural pleasantries at the moment, as the president had to offer Bersani the opportunity of a few days to seek a majority" said Duncan McDonnell, a political analyst at the European University Institute near Florence. ""We know he will not be able to form a government."
The Democratic Party and its left-leaning allies emerged, narrowly, as the winner of last month's general elections, giving it an absolute majority of seats in Parliament but only 121 seats in the 315-member Senate.
Achieving a stable coalition deal is harder due to each rival's electoral interests. A new poll released Friday by the SWG institute found that Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition would overturn the election results and win if a new vote were scheduled today. Meanwhile, the poll said the Five-Star Movement would be the single largest party. That alone will make the Democratic Party reluctant to trust any ordinary coalition deal.
If Mr. Bersani doesn't have a convincing plan, the head of state will hold another round of consultations with other parties and probably appoint an outsider candidate to head a government, with a mandate to pursue a narrow policy menu—and try to change the detested electoral law—while the politicians prepare for elections in the autumn.
Mr. Bersani, Mr. Berlusconi and other senior lawmakers have emphasized the urgency of giving the euro-zone's third-largest economy a government that will take measures aimed at ending a prolonged recession, as well as participate in European debates that have intensified in the wake of the demands being made as part of a bailout package for Cyprus.
The rhetoric of urgency "is paving the way for a caretaker administration of some type," Mr. McDonnell said.
Political gridlock also raises the risk of a sovereign rating downgrade, which could trigger market pressure on Rome to request a bailout of its own, Citigroup warned in a note Friday.
Italy's economy is struggling even more than bleak headline data show, as job and business declines began to accelerate late last year, said Mariano Bella, chief economist at the Confcommercio retailers lobby.
"We can't ignore the public suffering," President Napolitano said. Parliament needs to reflect voters' concerns and begin deliberating legislation as soon as possible, he said, adding that many policy goals are widely shared.
Mr. Bersani may use the next days of talks to sound out the idea of a cabinet led by someone other than himself with a precise mandate lasting less than the five-year legislature. But he has to be careful about compromises he offers because the Democratic Party's own future is at stake, according to Piero Ignazi, a political scientist at the University of Bologna.
Mr. Bersani won a closely contested primary vote against Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi, a younger and more centrist rival who polls say would have fared better in the national vote.
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I sincerely hope Bersani does not manage to corrupt other parties...that guy is the worst candidate after Goldmonti...