ROME, Feb. 21 Italys fragile government snapped
suddenly on Wednesday under the weight of its own internal divisions as well as
a broader skepticism about the European role in the worldwide fight against
terrorism.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi, in office just nine months, submitted his
resignation on Wednesday evening after his ruling coalition lost a key vote on
foreign policy in the Senate.
Two of his own
far-left coalition members abstained amid tensions over whether Italy should
continue to provide troops to Afghanistan and Mr. Prodis
support of an expansion of an American military base in
With only a
razor-thin majority, the abstentions killed the measure, aimed at gaining
Senate support for
I cant
in any way give my vote to this government with this foreign policy, said
Fernando Rossi, a senator from the Italian Communist Party and one of the
dissenters.
The vote came the
same day
But the
governments collapse also reflected its own inherent weaknesses, possibly
signaling that
Its
very bad, said Roberto DAlimonte, a
professor at the
There are many
scenarios for what comes next and
one possibility, if not immediately likely, is a return to power of Silvio
Berlusconi, whom Mr. Prodi defeated in
elections last year.
As ministers met
throughout the afternoon to discuss how to go forward, Mr. Berlusconis
supporters rallied outside the seat of government, waving banners and demanding
that the government step aside.
The country
has been exposed, by a majority that isnt and by
an incompetent government that has rejected parliamentary dialogue a grave international humiliation,
Mr. Berlusconi told reporters.
For Mr.
Berlusconi to return, new elections would have to be held, which at the moment
seems several steps in the future.
After accepting
Mr. Prodis resignation, President Giorgio
Napolitano will begin on Thursday to consult with political parties and will
ask one of them to try to form a government.
Many political
experts believed that Mr. Prodi would be given a
chance to shuffle his cabinet in a way that would satisfy the parties already
in the government. Then he would call for a confidence vote in Parliament.
But many experts
noted that such a government would remain weak, with the deep splits over
Something
has broken, said Franco Pavoncello, the
president of
In theory, the
prime ministers term lasts five years, but Mr.
Berlusconi is the only prime minister to have endured that long.While
the governments weakness made it liable to fall at any moment, its
collapse on Wednesday came as something of a surprise. For months the
government has been bickering internally and weathering attacks by Mr. Berlusconi
and other opposition leaders over
issues ranging from the budget to a proposed law giving rights to unmarried
couples.
But foreign
policy remained a particular weak spot. Essentially, Mr. Prodi
and his ministers have sought to walk a difficult line, echoing much of the
skepticism in Europe about President Bush and the war in
The
governments far-left members, however, have strongly resisted the presence
of nearly 2,000 Italian troops in
The splits grew
deeper, and on Tuesday in
In a long and
impassioned speech before the vote on Wednesday, Mr. DAlema
defended his governments position on
We have not
supported the neo-conservative politics of the American administration and we
have not sent soldiers to
He added that the
support of expanding the
In the end, the
government needed 160 votes, but only got 158 with the two abstentions.
Opposition senators roared at the result, shouting immediately: Resign!
Resign!
Many experts said
they believed Mr. DAlema, one of the most
powerful and experienced members of the government, would resign. And as
The most
dramatic, and perhaps least likely, is that Mr. Napolitano could call immediate
elections. But he has said he will not do so until the current electoral law,
instated by Mr. Berlusconi last year, is changed. Many experts blame the law
for virtually guaranteeing a thin majority in the Senate no matter who wins,
and thus destabilizing the political system.
Another option is
the appointment of a temporary government made up of largely centrist
technocrats. The aim would be to steer
A final
possibility involves peeling off the more Centrist Union of Christian
Democrats, a party long allied, if uneasily, with Mr. Berlusconi. Even as the
government tottered on Wednesday, one party leader, Marco Follini,
seemed to raise the possibility. The moment has arrived to put into the
pipeline a different center-left, he told reporters.
But Mr. DAlimonte noted that the party does not have enough seats to
allow Mr. Prodi to cast off the rebellious far-left
of his own party. Simply adding on Mr. Follinis
party to give Mr. Prodi a larger majority in
Parliament also remained a possibility, although Mr. DAlimonte
noted that it also seemed a recipe for even deeper disputes, since the party
shares little politically with the Communists who brought down the government.