Berlusconi Could Fall as Italy Teeters

Italy’s president, former communist Giorgio Napolitano, on Tuesday night took the extraordinary step of calling for decisive action by all parties to push through reforms, even to the point of issuing a veiled warning to Berlusconi that he could be replaced if he fails to act.

Despite the fact that the office of president is largely ceremonial, Napolitano’s popularity at 80% is far greater than that of Berlusconi at 25%, and his words carry great weight. After his statement, Napolitano began Wednesday to hold what he terms “pre-crisis” consultations with political parties that are apparently geared toward forming a new national unity government.

Six defectors from Berlusconi’s coalition wrote in a letter published in the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera that Italy needed a “new political phase and a new government. We are asking you to take an initiative which is appropriate to the situation,” they wrote, adding, “Be the backer of a new political phase and a new government which would have the task, from now until the end of the legislative term, of implementing the agenda agreed with our European partners and with it, the indications which came from the European Central Bank.”