Italian Premier Denies Reports of Resignation

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday said he had not resigned as head of his weakened center-right government, hours after a Cabinet member said the prime minister would quit.

Berlusconi met with President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, to whom he would have to submit any resignation, as he tried to find a way out of the worst political crisis of his four years in power.

Resigning to form a new government is a technique often used by Italian prime ministers to strengthen faltering coalitions, but Berlusconi has resisted.

The leader’s coalition took power in 2001, and he has said he hopes the government would be the first in postwar Italy to serve a full five-year term.

His decision not to step down surprised friends and foes, and left the country wondering whether he was closer to solving problems with his conservative allies or still in a stalemate.

Berlusconi’s allies have pressured him to resign since his coalition was trounced in regional elections this month.

Last week, a key centrist party, the Union of Christian Democrats, pulled its ministers out of the Cabinet and demanded that the prime minister form a fresh government with a new platform.

Earlier Monday, a resignation seemed to emerge as the only way out of the crisis.

After an emergency meeting of coalition leaders in Rome, Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini issued a statement saying Berlusconi would step down.

But the expected move was not made. Monday’s confusion prompted outrage from the center-left opposition.

Piero Fassino, leader of the Democrats of the Left, spoke of “a crisis that is being transformed into an indecent farce.”

“With his behavior, the premier is making a mockery of his coalition, the institutions and the whole country at once,” Fassino said, according to the ANSA news agency. Another center-left politician, Gavino Angius, described the situation as an “unacceptable shame.”