EU Commissioner Mario Monti faced pressure yesterday to become Italy's next economy minister after the ousting of Giulio Tremonti in a coalition coup that left Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi looking weak and isolated.
Mr Monti declined to talk to reporters as he flew into Italy's financial capital Milan amid speculation that he would meet Mr Berlusconi later in the day.
Government allies said they hoped the respected Competition Commissioner would accept the job and give the centre-right coalition some much-needed credibility at a time when state accounts face intense European Union scrutiny.
"Mario Monti has the perfect identikit," Marco Follini, the head of a centrist coalition party, was quoted as saying by La Repubblica newspaper.
Mr Berlusconi has assumed the role of economy minister on an interim basis after bowing to demands from Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini's National Alliance party to axe the irascible, sharp-tongued Tremonti.
The prime minister's first duty in his new role would be to attend a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Brussels today, which was due to discuss a possible early warning for Italy over its 2004 budget deficit that risks breaking EU rules.
Mr Berlusconi was expected to promise up to €7 billion of deficit-cutting measures in a bid to stave off a politically embarrassing slap on the wrist from his EU allies.
Mr Tremonti was from Mr Berlusconi's own Forza Italia party, which took a beating in recent European and local elections, and his abrupt departure deprives the prime minister of perhaps his most combative and reliable cabinet ally.
Whoever replaces Mr Tremonti faces a daunting task. While the former economy minister proved a master at improvising one-off measures to keep the deficit within reach, he failed to find the magic formula to revive the Italian economy, which barely grew in 2002 or 2003.
Political analysts said Forza Italia's poor showing at last month's polls was partly the result of voter discontent over the prolonged period of economic stagnation and disappointment that long-promised tax cuts had failed to materialise.