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Silvio Berlusconi 'will not run for Italian prime minister'
Silvio Berlusconi has announced that he has made a deal to join forces with his one-time coalition partner the Northern League, but only on the condition that he would not become prime minister if they win.
“An agreement has been signed,” Mr Berlusconi told RTL television, after weeks of uncertainty over whether his People of Freedom (PDL) party could heal a rift with the Northern League to run together in battleground regions in the north of the country.
Northern League leader Roberto Maroni said: “The agreement says that Silvio Berlusconi is the head of the coalition, but it says explicitly that the candidate for premier will not be Silvio Berlusconi.
“I want to express my satisfaction and appreciation to Silvio Berlusconi for this gesture.”
The former prime minister and billionaire media mogul referred to the deal using the term “Habemus Papam,” usually reserved for announcements of a new Pope.
However just hours after the announcement, Mr Berlusconi said: “I am the leader of the coalition and I will decide with the other parties involved, in the case of a victory, who will be the candidacy for prime minister,” adding that he preferred his party secretary and former justice minister, Angelino Alfano.
“Mr Alfano is a person who I esteem, with whom I have worked. I would not be sorry,” the League’s Mr Maroni said at a press conference later in the day. “ ... but since (Berlusconi) indicated that person, I would like to take the opportunity to indicate a different candidate for premier: Minister Tremonti.”
Mr Tremonti was minister of economy and finance in several of Mr Berlusconi’s previous administrations.
Mr Berlusconi said he would be willing to be finance minister if his party wins, noting sarcastically that the prime minister actually has little power, other than setting the daily agenda of the ministers.
Mr Maroni acknowledged the forced political marriage had given many of his party faithful “a stomachache,” but said it was the only political strategy that would produce a win and therefore advance the party’s goal of gaining more control over how tax revenues are spent in the industrious north of the country.
“This coalition has all the numbers to win. The other parties would have celebrated a separation between us, but unfortunately that is not the case,” Mr Maroni said.
“What are we going to do, go back to the romantic ideas of the succession? No let’s create a macro region to keep our money here. This has been our great dream and I don’t want to let it go.”
According to the Corriere della Sera, polls show the PdL- Northern League coalition still lags behind the centre-left, but could garner 26-28 per cent of the vote, with outgoing prime minister Mario Monti picking up 14-15 per cent.