Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti resigned yesterday with his political plans still in doubt, paving the way for early elections next year in a lynchpin eurozone state still mired in recession.
Monti “handed in the resignation of his Government” at a meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano, and will stay on in a caretaker capacity, the Presidency said in a statement.
Napolitano will hold consultations today with parliamentary leaders before dissolving the two chambers and calling a general election which most observers expect on February 24.
In his last speech as premier, Monti said that his stormy 13 months in government had been “difficult but fascinating” and voiced hope that his reform agenda will be continued by any new leader.
Italy was now “more reliable” on the international stage, he said. The former European commissioner joked to government colleagues earlier in the day that the fall of his Government was “not the fault of the Mayas”, referring to the end of a Mayan calendar which many believe foretold the end of the world yesterday.
The 69-year-old has won praise at home and abroad for rescuing Italy from the brink of bankruptcy, launching long-delayed pension and labour market reforms and joining other eurozone leaders in battling the debt crisis.
Monti announced he would step down earlier this month after his flamboyant predecessor Silvio Berlusconi withdrew his party’s support for Monti’s Government in Parliament and announced he would run for a fourth term as Prime Minister.
The Government’s mandate had been due to run out in April.
The current favourite in the opinion polls is centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani but things could change if Monti decides to join the campaign and back a coalition of small centrist parties as some local media have been reporting.
A former economy minister and leader of the Democratic Party, the cigar-chomping ex-communist Bersani, 61, has promised to stick to Monti’s reforms but also do more to bring down unemployment and to tax the rich.
Monti’s name cannot officially be on the ballot as he is already a senator for life, but the former economics professor can still be appointed to a post in government including Prime Minister or Finance Minister after elections.
The business world and the Catholic Church have been hugely supportive of Monti but his popularity has been hit among ordinary Italians as the debt-laden country grapples with record-high unemployment and a recession-hit economy.
Monti was installed by the President and Parliament as the head of an emergency technocratic government in November 2011 after the larger-than-life Berlusconi was forced to step down amid a financial crisis and a slew of sex scandals.
Many Italians breathed a sigh of relief at their country no longer being an international laughing stock but Monti’s popularity rating has fallen to around 30 per cent in recent months compared to more than 60 per cent when he started.