Berlusconi’s Resignation Shifts Focus to Forming Government
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Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s offer to resign leaves Italy struggling to produce a new regime stable enough to implement painful austerity measures in a country that has averaged almost a government a year since World War II.
Berlusconi said today that he favored early elections and that Angelino Alfano, head of his People of Liberty party, might be the candidate. Berlusconi last night said he’d step down as soon as parliament passed cost-cutting steps pledged to European Union allies in a bid to convince investors Italy can curb record borrowing costs. Parliament is due to vote on the measures in the coming weeks.