Rome: Mario Monti, one of Italy’s most respected economists, has been nominated for interim prime minister following the resign of former scandal hit Silvio Berlusconi.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano asked Monti to form a new government, replacing Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister.
Presidential palace officials announced Sunday night that Monti, a former European competition commissioner, received the formal mandate from president Napolitano. Monti must now draw up a Cabinet, lay out his priorities and see if he has enough support in Parliament to govern effectively.
Hours earlier, Silvio Berlusconi’s party gave its crucial approval for Monti to assemble a government, but insisted that it last only long enough to implement urgently need economic reforms. Berlusconi resigned reluctantly on Saturday, bowing to market pressures.
Earlier, Berlusconi hinted at a return to politics, just hours after stepping down as Italy’s prime minister, in a move that will confound and infuriate his critics.
“I share your spirit and I hope we can resume the path to government together,” he wrote in a letter sent to a political party from Italy’s far right, which was holding a national congress in Turin on Sunday.
Berlusconi told supporters that he was “proud” of what he had achieved during his third and last term of office.
“I regard with pride what we managed to achieve in the last three and a half years, which were marked by an unprecedented international crisis,” he told the party.
The remarks came as the president Napolitano held regular meetings to try to stitch together an emergency government of technocrats under Monti.
Berlusconi’s message backed up comments he made last week in which he hinted that he had no intention of bowing out of politics.
Thousands of protesters chanted and jeered when Berlusconi left his residence, Palazzo Grazioli, and headed to the presidential palace to tender his resignation.
A huge crowd messed outside the Quirinale Palace, chanting “resign, resign” and calling the prime minister “a thief”, “a buffoon” and a “Mafioso”.
When news of Mr Berlusconi’s resignation filtered through, the crowd in the Renaissance piazza erupted into applause and popped bottles of sparkling wine, chanting ‘Viva Italia’ and waving Italian flags.
Berlusconi was driven away from the Quirinale Palace through a side entrance in order to avoid the crowd.
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