Berlusconi resigns at last

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned yesterday after a wave of market panic that has shaken the eurozone, with thousands in the streets cheering the end of the tycoon’s rule.

This was the worst government since (fascist dictator Benito) Mussolini. The worst, the most dishonest, the most shameful

Berlusconi, who has been in power for 10 years, presented his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano after parliament adopted economic reforms that he set as a precondition for leaving.

“We hope today marks the beginning of a new spring in Italy,” Massimo Donadi, a lawmaker from the opposition Italy of Values party, said yesterday during a tumultuous session of parliament with jeering from both sides.

Dario Franceschini of the main opposition Democratic Party said: “Today the curtain falls on a long and painful phase of Italian political history.

“The country wants to turn the page and start again.”

Fabrizio Cicchitto of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, said: “We thank Berlusconi for what he has done for all these years.”

Hundreds of anti-Berlusconi campaigners meanwhile rallied outside parliament holding up placards reading ‘Bye Bye Silvio’ and waving Italian flags.

“Resign! Resign! Resign!” the crowd shouted. Former EU commissioner Mario Monti, a 68-year-old economist with a formidable reputation but no experience in political office, is seen as the most likely contender to receive the mandate to form a new government.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, the former governor of the Bank of Italy who took over in Frankfurt just this month, met with Monti in Rome yesterday.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde added her voice to calls from US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and others for Italy to form a new government instead of declaring early elections.

Monti has received backing from the opposition as well as the business world. But parts of Berlusconi’s coalition have said they want early elections.

The 75-year-old prime minister himself has said he wants elections but in a possible sign of a change of heart and in what could be one of his last meetings as prime minister, Berlusconi had lunch with Monti yesterday.

Italy’s top-selling Corriere della Sera daily said the centre-right was “playing with fire” by refusing to get behind a new government, warning of market mayhem if there is no new cabinet by the beginning of this week.

There was little grief among ordinary Italians at the political demise of Berlusconi.

Latest polls give the media tycoon an approval rating of just 22 per cent following a wave of sex scandals and legal troubles.