Post date: Feb 26, 2013 12:41:8 PM
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he could be open to a coalition with the centre-left after election results produce no clear winner.
MILAN, ITALY (FEBRUARY 24, 2013) (REUTERS) - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday (February 26) indicated he was open to an alliance between his centre-right coalition and the centre-left group that won most seats in Italy's parliamentary election.
But in a television interview he explicitly ruled out a coalition with Mario Monti, saying the outgoing prime minister's austerity policies had dragged Italy into recession."I really believe quite frankly that Monti, with his austerity measures, has put italy into a dangerous position, into a recession, which has led us to have negative results for everything. Debt has increased, unemployment is at three million, especially amongst the youth, and in Monti's year 1,000 businesses have closed every day, 160,000 business in a year. These are really negative results which have been felt in all ofEurope, as we have seen all over Europe with these measures, there are over fifty million people without jobs," he said.
When asked whether he was open to joining with the centre-left, Berlusconi said all parties needed to sacrifice something for the common good.
"Listen, I've said we all need time to reflect, and I think everyone has a great responsibility to reflect and to put in the forefront the good of Italy," he said.
The centre-left bloc of Pier Luigi Bersani will have a majority in the lower house thanks to a premium of seats given to the largest bloc in the chamber.
Results in the upper house, the Senate, where seats are awarded on a region-by-region basis, indicated the centre-left would end up with about 119 seats, compared with 117 for the centre-right. But 158 are needed for a majority to govern.